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PHILOSOPHY 



OB 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



By WILLIAM: SMELLIE, 

MEMBER QF THE ANTIQUARIAN AND ROYAL SOCIETIES OF EDINBURGH. 




DOVER, N. H. 

PUBLISHED BY THOMAS fe" TAPPAN, & SAMUEL BRAGG, JUN. 

SOLD BY THEM AT THEIR RESPECTIVE BOOK STORES IN 

PORTSMOUTH AND DOVER ; BY ISAIAH THOMAS, JUN. 

IN WORCESTER ; BY WRIGHT, GOODENOW AND 



1808. 



Ql/151 

.S65 
l&OS 






i 



PREFACE. 



XL VERY Preface, befide occafional or explanatory remarks, 
fhould contain not only the general defign of the work, but the motives and 
circumftances which induced the author to write upon, that particular fubject. 
If this plan had been univerfally obferved, prefaces would have exhibited a Ihort, 
but a curious and ufeful, hiftory both of literature and of authors. Influenced 
by this idea, I (hall give a very compendious account of the origin, defign, and 
progrefs of the following work. 

About fifteen years ago, in a converfation with the late worthy, refpecta- 
ble, and ingenious Loro KAMES,upon the too general neglect of natural know- 
ledge, His Lordfhip fuggefled the idea of compofing a Book on the Philoso- 
phy of Natural Histort, In a work of this kind, he propofed that the 
productions of Nature, which to us are almoft infinite, fhould, inftead of being 
treated of individually, be arranged under general heads ; that, in each of thefe 
divifions, the known fads, as well as reafonings, fhould be collected and meth- 
odrfed in the form of regular difcourfes ; that as few technical terms as poflible 
fhould be employed ; and that all the ufeful and amufing views arifing from the 
different fubjects fhould be exhibited in fuch a manner as to convey both plea- 
fure and information. 

This tafk His Lordfhip was pleafed to think me not altogether unqualified 
to attempt. The idea ltruck me. I thought that a work of this kind, if exe- 
cuted even with moderate abilities, might excite a tafle for examining the vari- 
ous objects which every where foiicit our attention. A habit of obfervation re- 
fines our feelings. It is a fource of interefting amufement, prevents idle or vic- 
ious propensities, and exalts the mind to a love of virtue and of rational enter- 
tainment. I likewife reflected, that men of learning often betray an ignorance 
on the moft common fubjects of Nat-i.il Hiftory, which it is painful to remark. 

I have been occafionally employed, fince the period which I have mention- 
ed, in collecting and digefting materials from the molt authentic fources. Thefe 
materials I have interfperfed with fuch obfervations, reflections, and reafonings, 
as occurred to me from confidering the multifarious fubjects of which I have 



5 . PREFACE. 

ventured to treat, I knew that a deliberate perufal of the numerous writers 
from Ariftotle downwards, would require a confiderable portion of time. But 
the avocations of bufmefs, and the tranflating of a work fo voluminous as the 
Natural History of the Count de Buffon, rendered my progrefs much 
flower than I wifhed. I now, however, with much diffidence, fubmit my labours 
to public opinion. An examination of the Contents, however, will convey a 
more clear idea of the nature of the work than a multiplicity of words But I 
thought it proper to prefix a fhort account of the circumftances and motives 
which induced me to engage in an undertaking fo extenfive, and fo difficult to 
perform with tolerable fuccefs. 

With regard to the manner of writing, it is perhaps impoffible for a North 
Briton, in a work of any extent, to avoid what are called Scotticisms. But 
I have endeavoured to be every where perfpicuous, and to fhun every fentiment 
or expreffion which might have a tendency to injure fociety, or to hurt the feel- 
ings of individuals, 

Inpulgent readers, though they muft perceive errors and imperfections, 
will naturally make fome allowance for the variety of refearch, and the labour 
of condenfing fo much matter into fo fmall a compafs. He is a bad author, it 
has been faid, who affords neither an aphorifm nor a motto. 

I cannot refrain from mentioning a circumftance which has often made 
me uneafy. The expectations of fome friends were higher than I was confeious 
my abilities could reach. 

UroN the whole, the general defign of this publication is, to convey to the 
minds of youth, and of fuch as may have paid little attention to the ftudy of Na- 
ture, a fpeci,es of knowledge which it is not difficult to acquire. This knowledge 
will be a perpetual and inexhauftible fource of manly pleafures ; it will afford 
innocent and virtuous amufement, and will occupy agreeably the leifure or va- 
eant hours of life; 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. page. 

Of the Dijlinguifhing Characters of Animals, Plants, and 
Minerals. The analogies between the plant and animal, 
arifing from their Jiruclure and organs, their growth and 
nourijhment, their diffemination and decay - - 1 3. 

CHAPTER H. 

Of the Organs apd General Structure of Animals. A fhort 
view of the external and internal parts of the human body. 
The Jiruclure of Quadrupeds, Birds, Fifhes, and Infects. 
How far peculiarities of Jiruclure are connected with pecu- 
liarities of manners and difpofitions. - 54 

CHAPTER III. 

Of the Refpiration of Animals. Air necejfary to the exijlence 
of all animated beings. The various modifications of the 
organs employed by Nature for the tranfmiffion of air into 
animal bodies. - - - - 112 

CHAPTER IV. 

Of the motions of Animals. The caufes and infruments of 
animal motion. Animal compared with mechanical mo- 
tion. - - - - - 14$ 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. PAGE. 

Of the In/lincl of Animals. Bivifon of Infintls. Exam- 
ples of pure infintl. Offuch infincls as can accommodate 
them/elves to peculiar circumftances and fituations. Ofin- 
Jlintls improveable by obfervation and experience. Some re- 
marks and conclufions from this view of infintl *• 153 





CHAPTER VI. 






Of the Senfes in 


General * 


- 


168 


Of Smelling 


■B « ■• 


- 


169 


OfTafing 


m 




172 


Of Hearing 


^ 


■• 


175 


Of Touch 


- 


- 


181 


Of Seeing 


CtfAPTER VII. 


•^ 


185 



Of the Infancy of Animals. Some /pedes continue longer ', 
and others Jhorter, in this fate. Different modes of 
i managing infants in different countries, - ■» 202 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Of the Food of Animals. Their growth and expanfton. The 
varieties of food ufedby men and other animals. Effecls 
of peculiar foods - * « «• - 21^ 

CHAPTER IX, 

Of the Sexes of Animals. The mental and corporeal differen- 
ces between males and females. Some animals endowed 
with both fexes in the fame individual - 242 

Sect. II. Of the Sexes of plants - - - 251 

CHAPTER X. 

Cf Puberty. Its fymptoms and effecls in different Animals 2(?9 



CONTENTS. 11 

CHAPTER XI. page. 

Of Love. Its expreffions and ejfecls in different Animals* 

Pairing. Seafons. Parental Affeclion - * 274? 

CHAPTER XII. 
Of the Transformations of Animals. Transformation of the 
caterpillar tribes. Of frogs , Isfc. All animals under- 
go changes in their form and afpecl. What are the pro- 
bable intentions of Nature in changing forms - - 29 1 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Of the Habitations of Animals. Their different modes of 
conjlrucling abodes for warmth and proteclion to them- 
f elves and heir offspring. The form and manner of their 
habitations accommodated to the exigencies of the animal 315 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Of the Hoftilities of Animals. Why animals prey upon one 
another y butfeldom on their own fpecies. Advantages de- 
rived from this feemingly dejlrutlive injlitution of Na-f 
ture - ----- 37S 

CHAPTER XV. 
Of the Artifices of Animals in catching their prey and efcap- 
ing their enemies. Thefe artifices are f in general, pure- 
ly inflinclive 5 hut feme animals can vary their mode of 
attack or defence according to particular circumflances 
and fituat ions . 403 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Of the Society of Animals. What are the motives and advan- 
tages of it. Gregarious tribes. Whether man belongs to 
this tribe. Society of two kinds - - 418 



12 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Of the Docility of Animals. How far improveable by cul- 
ture. Effetls of domejlicatien - - 439 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Of the Characters and Difpofitions of Animals. Rapacious. 

Mild. Timid. Bold. Generous - - - 467 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Of the Principle of Imitation in Animals. Is the nearefi 

approach to reafoning and language - - 472 

CHAPTER XX. 

Of the Migration of Animals. More general than common' 
ly believed. The probable motives which induce animals 
to migrate - •- - - - 476 

CHAPTER XXL 

Of the Longevity and Death of Animals. A comparative 
view of Animals with regard to the duration of life , 
and its confequences - 506 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Of the ProgreJJive Scale of Animals. Stops at man t and why. 
In this world, it appears to be impffible that a being fu- 
flerior to man could exijl. Reafons for this opinion. - 521 



THE 

PHILOSOPHY 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER I. 



Diftinguiflnng characters of Animals > Plants , and Minerals — The 
Analogies hettveen the plant and animal, arifingfrom their Jlruc- 
ture and organs, their growth and nourifoment, their dijfemina- 
tion and decay, 

JN ATUR AL Bodies, when viewed as they hare 
a relation to man, are marked with characters fo apparent, 
that they efcape not the obfervation of the moil unenlight- 
ened minds. In a fyftem where all the conftituent parts 
have a reciprocal dependence, and are connected by relations 
fo fubtile as to elude the perception of animals, fuch obvious 
characters were indifpenfible. Without them, neither the 
affairs of human life, nor the functions of the brute creation, 
could be carried on. Characters of this kind are accommo- 
dated to the apprehenfion of brutes and of vulgar men. 

But, when the productions of nature are more clofely ex- 
amined ; when they are fcrutinized by the eye of philofophy, 
"the number of their relations and differences is difcovered to 
be almoft infinite ; and their fhades of difcrimination are 
often fo delicate, that no fenfe can perceive them. Nothing 



14 THE PHILOSOPHY 

apparently, is more eafy than to diftinguifh an animal front 
a plant •, and yet the proper diftinction has puzzled the moft 
acute enquiries, and perhaps exceeds the limits of human 
capacity. 

4 A plant,' fays Jungius, ' is a living but not a fei it ient body, 

* which is fixed in a determined place, and grows, increafes 
1 in fize, and propagates its fpecies*/ In this definition living 
powers are afcribed to vegetables •, but they are denied the 
faculty of fenfation. Life,J\vithout fome degree of fenfation, 
is an incomprehenfible idea. An animal limited to the ienfe 
of feeling alone, is the lowefr. conception we can form of life. 
Deprive this being of the only fenfe it pofTefTes, and, though 
its figures fhould remain, we would inftantly conclude it to 
be as inanimate as a ftone. The life attributed to plants 
feems to be nothing more than an analogical deduction from 
their growth, nutrition, continuation of their fpecies, and 
fimilar circumftances. 

Ludwig defines vegetables to be c natural bodies, always 

* endowed with the fame form, but deprived of the power of 
f local motionf.' Every branch of this definition is, with 
equal propriety, applicable to precious ftones, falts, and fome 
animals ; and, therefore, requires no farther attention. 

Sir Charles Linnaeus, in his Fundamenta Botanica, intends 
to difcriminate the three kingdoms of nature in two lines. 

* Stones/ fays he, < grow ; vegetables grow and live ; ani- 
< mais grow, live, and feel %S This is an afiemblage of words, 
the meaning of which is entirely perverted. The idea of 
growth implies nutrition and expanfion by the intervention 
of organs. The magnitude of flones may be augmented by 
an accretion of new matter. But this is not growth, or ex- 
panfion of parts. The fecond definition, ' that vegetables 
grow and live/ is equally inaccurate. Inflead of proving 

* Raii Hift. Plant, p. x, f Ludwig, Phil, Bot. p. i. $ Fund. Bot. ^ $. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 1$ 

the life of plants, Linnaeus takes it for granted, and makes it 
the characteriftic between vegetables and brute matter. The 
third, < that animals grow, live and feel J is not lefs excep- 
tionable. Growth, life, and mere fenfation, convey the moft 
ignoble notions of animated beings. From this definition, 
we would be led to imagine, that Linnaeus meant to defcribe 
the condition of a polypus or an oyfter. All animals, it is 
true, grow, live, and feel ; but thefe are only the paflive 
properties of animals. The definition includes none oi 
thofe inftinctive, intellectual, and active powers which exalt 
the animal above the vegetable, and fo eminently diftinguifh, 
the different tribes from each other. 

Thefe and many other abortive attempts have been made 
to afcertain the precife boundaries between the animal and 
vegetable. Definitions have been the perpetual aim of moft 
writers on this fubject. But definitions, when applied to nat- 
ural objects, mull always be vague and elufory. We know 
not the principle of animal life. We are equally ignorant 
of the efTential caufe of vegetable exiftence. It is vain, 
therefore, to dream of being able to define what we never 
can know. We may, however, difcover fome qualities com- 
mon to the animal as well as to the vegetable. 

Senfation, motion, and ftructure of parts, give animals a 
more extenfive range in their connection with external ob- 
jects. A certain portion of intellect, joined to the vital prin- 
ciple, feem to be the moft diftinguifh in g properties of ani- 
mals, and to conftitute their efTence or being. Animals will, 
determine, act, and have a communication with diftant ob- 
jects by their fenfes. They have the laws of nature, in 
fome meafure, at command. They protect themfelves from 
injury by employing force, fvviftnefs, addrefs, and cunning. 
But vegetables remain fixed in the fame place, and are fubject 
to every thing that moves. Animals eat at intervals ; their 
food requires time for digeftion, and to anfwer ths complica- 



16 THE PHILOSOPHY 

ted purpofes of fecretipn and nutrition. The ftructure of 
plants is more fimple ; they receive perpetual nourifhment 
without injury. Animals fearch for and felect particular 
kinds of food. But plants mufl receive whatever is brought 
to them by the different elements. Animals exifl on the 
furface and in the interior parts of the earth, in the air, in 
water, in the bodies of men and other animals, in the internal 
parts of plants, and even in ftones. But if we except a few 
aquatics, plants are fixed to the earth by roots. 

All animals, it has been affirmed, have a heart, or particu- 
lar fountain for propelling and diftributing their fluids to 
the different parts of their bodies : but caterpillars, and ma- 
ny other infects, have no fuch general receptacle. 

The loco-motive faculty has been confidered as peculiar to 
animals. But even this Character is extremely fufpicious. 
Oyfters, fea-nettles, the gall-infects, and a variety of other 
animals, can hardly be faid to enjoy the power of local mo- 
tion. Many fpecies remain forever fixed to the rocks on 
which they are produced, and have no motion but that of 
extending or contracting their, bodies. Befides, examples 
of different kinds of motion are difcoverable in the vegetable 
kingdom. When the roots of a tree meet with a ftone, or 
any other obftruction to their motion, in order to avoid it, 
they change their former direction. They turn from barren 
to fertile earth, which indicates fomething analogous to a fe- 
lection of food. Like the polypus, plants, when confined in 
a houfe, uniformly bend toward the window or aperture 
through which the rays of light are introduced. 

The fenfitive plant pofTefles the faculty of motion in an 
eminent degree. The flighteft. touch makes its leaves fud- 
denly fhrink, and, together with the branch, bend down 
toward the earth. But the moving plant, or hedyfarurn 
movens, of which there are fpecimens in the botanic garden 
©f Edinburgh, furnifhes the moft aftonifhing example of ve- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 1? 

getable motion. It is a native of the Eaft Indies. Its. move- 
ments are not excited by the contact of external bodies, but 
folely by the influence of the fun's rays. The motions or 
this plant are confined to the leaves, which are fupported. by 
long flexible foot ftalks. When the fun fliines, the leaves 
move brifkly in every direction. Their general motion 
however, is upward and downward; but they not unfrequently 
turn almoft round ; and then their footftalks are evidently 
twitted. Thefe motions go on incefTantly as long as the heat 
of the fun continues ; but they ceafe during the night, 
and when the weather is cold and cloudy. Our wonder is 
excited by the rapidity and, conftancy of the movements pe- 
culiar to this plant. The frequency, however, of fimilar. 
motions in other plants, renders it probable that the leaves 
of all vegetables move, or are agitated by the rays of the 
fun, though many of thefe. movements are too flow for our 
perception. 

The American plant called dionaea mufcipula*, or Venus' s Jly-. 
trap, affords another inftance of rapid vegetable motion. Its 
leaves are jointed, and furnifhed with two rows of ftrong prick- 
les. Their furfaces are covered with a number of minute 
glands, which fecrete a iweet liquor, and allure the approach 
of flies. "When thefe parts are touched by the legs of a fly, 
the two lobes of the leaf initantly rile up, the rows of pric- 
kles lock themfelves fail together, and fqueeze the unwary 
animal to death. If a ftraw or a pin be introduced between 
the lobes the fame motions are excited. 

When a feed is fown in a reverfed pofltion, the young root 
turns downwards to enter the earth, and the ftem bends 
Upward into the air. Confine a young" ftem to an inclined, 
pofltion, and its extremity will foon aflume its former per- 
pendicular direction. Twifl: the branches of any tree in fuch 
a manner that the inferior furfaces of the leaves are turn- 
ed towards the Iky, and you will, in a fhort time, per- 



IS THE PHILOSOPHY 

ceive that all thefe leaves refume tlieir original pofition. 
Thefe motions are performed fooner or later, in proportion 
to the degree of heat, and the flexibility of the leaves. 
Many leaves, as thofe of the mallow, follow the courfe of the 
fun. In the morning, their fuperior furfaces are prefented 
to the eaft ; at noon, they regard the fouth ; and, when the 
fun fets, they are directed to the weft. During the night, 
or in rainy weather, thefe leaves are horizontal j and their 
inferior furfaces are turned toward the earth. 

What has been denominated the fleep of plants, affords an 
inftance of another fpecies of vegetable motion. The leaves 
of many plants fold up during the night ; but at the ap- 
proach of the iun, they expand with renewed vigour. The 
common appearances of mod vegetables are fo changed in 
the night, that it is difficult to recognise the different kinds, 
even by the afliftance of light. 

The modes of folding in the leaves, or of fleeping, are ex- 
tremely various. But it is worthy of remark, that they all 
difpofe themfelves fo as to give the beft protection to the 
young (terns, flowers, buds, or fruit. The leaves of the tam- 
arind tree contract round the tender fruit, and protect it 
from the nocturnal cold. The caflia or fenna, the glycine, 
and many of the papilionaceous plants, contract their leaves 
in a fimilar manner. The leaves of the chickweed, of 
the afclepias, atriplex, &c. arc difpofed in oppofite pairs. 
During the night, they rife perpendicularly, and join fo 
clofe at the top, that they conceal the flowers. The 
leaves of the fida or althea theophrifti, of the ayenia, and 
Oenothera, are placed alternately. Though horizonal, or 
even depending, during the day, at the approach of night 
they rife, embrace the flem, and protect the tender flowers. 
The leaves of the folanum, or nightfhade, are horizontal du- 
ring the day ; but, in the night, they rife and cover the 
flowers. The Egyptian 'vetch erects its leaves during the 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 1'9 

night, in fuch a manner that each pair feem to be one leaf 
only. The leaves of the white lupine, in the ftate of fleep, 
hang down, and protect the young buds from being injured 
by the nocturnal air. 

Thefe and iimilar motions are not peculiar to the leaves of 
plants. The flowers have alfo the power of moving. Du- 
ring the night, many of them are inclofed in their calixes. 
Some flowers, as thofe of the German fpurge, geranium 
striatum, and common whitlow grafs, when afleep, hang their 
mouths toward the earth, to prevent the noxious effects of 
rain or dew. 

The caufe of thofe movements which conftitute the fleep 
of plants, has been afcribed to the prefence or abfence of the 
fun's rays. In fome of the examples I have given, the mo- 
tions produced are evidently excited by heat. But plants 
kept in a hot-houfe, where an equal degree of heat is pre- 
ferved both day and night, fail not to contract their leaves, 
or to fleep, in the fame manner, as when they are expofed to 
the open air. This fact evinces, that the fleep of plants is 
rather owing to a peculiar law, than to a quicker or flower 
motion of their juices. 

A ftomach and brain have been reckoned effential charac- 
terises of the animal ; and plants are faid to pofTefs nothing 
analogous to thefe organs. But the polypus has no ftomach ; 
or rather, like vegetables, its whole body may be confldered 
as a ftomach. Its internal cavity contains no vifcera ; and, 
when this animal is turned outfide in, it flill continues to live, 
and to digeft its food, in the fame manner as if it had receiv- 
ed no injury. The mode by which plants are nourifhed is 
extremely analogous. They imbibe food by the roots, the 
trunk, the branches, the leaves, and the flowers. Inftead, 
therefore, of having no floruach, their whole flructure is 
ftomach. With regard to the brain, the polypus, and many 
©ther infects, are deprived of that organ. Hence neither 



&0 



THE PHILOSOPHY 



ftoiriach nor brain are effential characters which difcriminate 
the animal from the vegetable. 

But all animals are endowed with fenfation, or at leaft 
with irritability, which laft has been confidered as a diftinct- 
ive character of animal life. Senfation implies a diftinct per- 
ception of pleafure and pain. We infer the exiftence of 
Fenfation in organized bodies, when we perceive that they 
have organs fimilar to our own, or when they act, in certain 
circum fiances, in the fame manner as we act. If an organ- 
ized being has eyes, ears, and a nofe, we naturally conclude 
that it enjoys the fame fenfations as thefe organs convey to us. 
If we fee another being, whofe ftruchire exhibits nothing 
analogous to our organs of fenfation, contracting with rapid- 
ity when touched, directing its body uniformly to the light, 
feizing fmall infects with tentacula> or a kind of arms, and 
conveying them into an aperture placed at its anterior end, we 
hefitate not to pronounce that it is animated. Cut off its 
arms, deprive it of the faculty of contracting and extending 
its body, the nature of this being will not be changed; but 
we will be unable to determine whether it poffefTes any 
portion of life. This is nearly the condition of the fmall 
fections of a polypus, before their heads begin to grow. The 
wheel-animal, the eels in blighted wheat,and the fnails record- 
ed in the philofophical tranfactions, afford infiances of every 
appearance of fenfation, or even of irritability,being fufpended, 
not for months, but for feveral years, and yet the life of 
thefe animals is not extinguished ; for they uniformly revive 
upon a proper application, of moifture. 

Thefe and iimilar facts fhow, that we are entirely ignorant 
of the efTence and properties of life. What life really is, 
feems too fubtile for our understanding to conceive, or our 
fenfes to difcern. If we have no other criterions to diftinguifh 
life, than motion, fenfation, and irritability, the animals juft 
mentlbned continued for years in a ftate which every man 



OF NATURAL I-IISTOE.Y. 21 

would pronounce to have been perfectly dead. It is poffible, 
therefore, that life may exift in many bodies which are com- 
monly thought to be as inanimate as ftones. ,» Hence it would 
be ram to exclude plants from every fpecies of fenfation. 
The degrees of fenfation decreafe imperceptibly from man to 
the fea-nettle, gall-infects, and what are called the raoft im- 
perfect animals. Every vegetable, as well as the fenfitive 
plant, fhrinks when wounded. But, in mofl of them, the 
motion is too flow for our perception. When trees grow 
near a ditch, the roots which proceed in a direction that 
would neceffarily bring them into the open air, inftead of 
continuing this noxious progrefs, fink below the level of the 
ditch, then flioot acrofs, and regain the foil on the oppofite 
fide. When a root is uncovered, without expofing it to 
much heat, and a wetfpunge is placed near it, but in a different 
direction from that in which the root is proceeding, in a 
fhort time the root turns towards the fpunge. In this man- 
ner the direction of roots may be varied at pleafure. All 
plants make the flrongeft efforts, by inclining, turning, and 
even twitting their ftems and branches, to efcape from dark- 
nefs and fhade, and to procure the influences of the fun. 
Place a wet fpunge under the leaves of a tree, they foon bend 
downward, and endeavour to apply their inferior furfaces to 
the fpunge. If a veffel of water be placed within fix inches 
of a growing cucumber, in twenty-four hours the cucumber 
alters the direction of its branches, bends either to the right 
or left, and never flops till it comes into contact with the 
water. When a pole is placed at a confiderabe diitance 
from an unfupported vine, the branches of which are pro- 
ceeding in a contrary direction from that of the pole, in a 
fhort time, it alters its courfe, and flops not till it clings 
around the pole. 

Facts of this kind excite our wonder *, but they by no 
means prove that vegetables live, or that they are endowed 



$2 THE PHILOSOPHY 

with fenfation,which implies a diftinct perception of pleafbre 
and pain. 

There is an inferior fpecies of fenfation, which is diftin- 
guifhed by the term irritability . This term denotes that pow- 
er by which mufcular fibres, even after they are detached 
from the body, contract upon the application of any ftimulat- 
ing fubftance, whether folid or fluid. The heart of a frog 
when pricked with the point of a pin continues to beat, or 
to contract and dilate, for feveral hours after it has been 
cut out of the animal's body. The heart of a viper or of a turtle 
beats diftinctly from twenty to thirty hours after the death 
of thefe animals. The periflaltic motion of the inteftines is 
produced by their irritability. When the inteftines of a dog, 
or any other quadruped, are fuddenly cut into different por- 
tions, all thefe portions crawl about like worms, and contract 
upon the flighteft touch. Though irritability be unqueftion- 
ably a vital principle, yet it is equally certain that mufcular 
fibres, when feparated from the body to which they belong, 
have no diftinct perception of pleafure or pain. Their re- 
gular contraction and dilatation are evident fymptoms of life, 
which, in many cafes, may lead us to attribute living powers 
to fubftances that enjoy neither life nor fenfation. Hence, 
though all plants were irritable, this circumftance wpuld not 
prove that they are pofTefTed of life. The contraction and 
dilatation of the fenfitive plants, and the various motions of 
the leaves, branches, flowers, and roots of vegetables formerly 
mentioned, feem to indicate that moft plants are endowed 
with irritability. Perhaps all vegetables have more or lefs of 
this quality. The heart, inteftines, and diaphragm, are the 
moft irritable parts of animal bodies ; and, to difcover whe- 
ther this quality refides in all plants, experiments fhould be 
made chiefly on their leaves, flowers, buds, and the tender 
fibres of the roots. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 23 

From this narration of facts, it appears, that plants make a 
very near approach to animals ; and that this fimilarity, as 
well as the difficulty of fixing the precife boundaries by which 
thefe two great kingdoms of nature are limited, are direct 
confequences of the organization of vegetables. It is owing 
to their organic ftructure alone, that plants and animals are 
capable of affording reciprocal nourifhment to each other. 
This organic ftructure, though greatly diverfified in the dif- 
ferent fpecies of animals and vegetables, evinces that nature 
in the formation of both, has acledupon the famegeneral plan. 
May we not prefume,therefore, as plants as well as animals are 
compoied of a regular fyftem of organs, that the vegetable 
part of the creation is not entirely deprived of every quality 
which we are apt to think peculiar to animated beings ? I 
mean not to infinuate, that plants can perceive pleafure or 
pain. But, as many of their motions and affections cannot 
be explained upon any principle of mechanifm, I am inclined 
to think, that they originate from the power of irritability, 
which, though it implies not the perception of pleafure and 
pain, is the principle that regulates all the vital or involun- 
tary motions of animals. To afcertain this point, would re- 
quire a fet of very nice experiments. I (hall mention one, 
which might be performed with tolerable eafe. It was form- 
erly remarked, that plants kept in a hot houfe, where the 
degree of heat is uniform, never fail tofleep during the night. 
This is direct evidence, that heat alone is not the caufe of 
their vigilance. But they are deprived of light. Let, there- 
fore, a ftrong artificial light, without increafing the heat, be 
thrown upon them. If, notwithstanding this light, the plants 
are not roufed, but continue to fleep as ufual, then it may be 
prefumed that their organs, like thofe of animals, are not on- 
ly irritable, but require the reparation of fome invigorating 
influence which they have loft while awake, by the agita- 
tions of the air and the fun's rays, by the act of growing, or 
by fome other latent caufe. 



24 THE PHILOSOPHY 

It is almoft unneceffary to mark the diftinction between 
vegetables and minerals. The transition from the animal to 
the plant is effected by fhades fo imperceptible, as to elude 
the moft acute obfervers. But, between the plant and the 
mineral, there is a vaft chafm in the chain of being, which 
may be the fource of great difcoveries. In bodies purely 
mineral, not a veftige of organization can be difcovered. The 
fibrous ftructure of the afbeftos has been regarded as an ap- 
proach towards organization, and as the link which connects 
the mineral to the vegetable kingdom. But this is one of 
thofe {trained analogies which are too often employed by 
theoretical writers. Though the afbeftos is compofed of a 
kind of threads or fibres, thefe fibres are not tubular j nei- 
ther are they interwoven, like that regular tiffue or fabric 
which fo remarkably diftinguifhes organized from brute mat- 
ter. Of courfe, the magnitude of the afbeftos can only be 
jncreafed by the appofition of new matter, and not by any 
developement or expanfion of parts. But though, in the 
mineral kingdom, nature ceafes to organize, fhe continues to 
arrange. 

The regular configuration of falts, chryftals, and other pre- 
cious flones, has been considered by fome authors as the re- 
mit of an organic procefs. But the uniform figure of falts 
and chryftals may be the effect of certain laws of attraction 
peculiar to each fpecies. None of thefe particles can be re- 
garded as a germ or bud. They are only the elements or 
corftituent parts, which, when applied to each other, form 
a whole. They never expand or grow, like the embrios of 
animals or plants. They remain for ever in the fame ftate 
without diminution or increafe, except when feparated by 
force, or magnified by an accumulation of frefh matter. The 
chryftalline juice is not aflimulated by veffels : It is prepared 
by a chymical operation of nature. The bodies of plants 
and animals are machines, exceedingly elaborate, and more 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 25 

or lefs complicated. Thefe machines, by means of different 
organs, have the power of converting other animals and ve- 
getables into their own fubftance. By this afiimulation, all 
their dimenfions are increafed ; and their various parts unU 
, formly preferve the fame proportions with regard to each 
other, and continue to perform their refpeclive functions. 
Befides, organized bodies not only multiply their fpecies, 
but fome of them poffefs the power of reproducing fuch parts 
as are forcibly abftracted from them. 

In thefe and many other qualities common to the animal 
and vegetable, there is not the fmallefl analogy to be found 
in the mineral kingdom. Between the moft regular foffils, 
as falts and chryftals, and the moft imperfect animal or ve- 
getable, the diftance is immenfe. Figured foffils are not 
more organized than a column or a portico. In the formation 
of the former, nature, in that of the latter, man, is the artift. 
When no fimilayity is to be diicovered in thofe foffils which 
are nearly uniform in their configuration, we are not to ex- 
pect it in the more loofe and irregular parts of brute matter. 
Here, nature, regardlefs of fymmetry, conjoins heterogeneous 
materials of which fhe compofes irregular mafTes. Many 
ftones, flints, and other concretions, afford examples of this 
kind. More art, it muft be acknowledged, appears in the for- 
mation of metals : but their ftructure exhibits no vefliges of 

organization. 

ANALOGIES. 
HAVING fhown the extreme difficulty of fixing the boun* 
daries which feparate the animal from the vegetable king^ 
dom, I proceed to the more pleafing talk of enumerating 
fome of thofe beautiful analogies which fubfift between them, 
To render this fubject the more agreeable and inflructive, in- 
ftead of bringing together an unconnected mafs, I {hall trace 
the analogies between the animal and plant, under the ar- 
rangement of Jlrucltire a?ul organs, growth cuid nourifhxnjent, dif-* 
fetninatiofi and decay. 



26 THE PHILOSOPHY 

STRUCTURE and ORGANS. 

IN all organized bodies, a fimilarity of ftruclure feems to 
be unavoidable. The bodies of men and quadrupeds confift 
of a feries of connected bones, which run from the head to 
the rump. This feries is known by the name of the back- 
bone, from each fide of which, a number of arched bones pro- 
ceed. Some of thefe join the breaft-bone by means of car- 
tilages, and form a vaulted cavity, which contains and de- 
fends the heart, and other vifcera proper to the cheft. The 
bones of the pelvis, and of the four extremities, are joined to 
the back-bones by articulations and membranes. By the 
fame contrivance, the cranium is fixed to the upper end of 
the back bones. Into different procefTes and portions of all 
thefe bones, a great number of mufcles, or bundles of flefhy 
fibres are inferted. Thefe mufcles are the inftruments which 
give rife to all the varieties of animal motion. The bones of 
the head, or cranium, contain the brain and cerebellum, a 
prolongation of which runs through the whole extent of the 
canal in the back-bone, and is known by the term Jpinal mar- 
roiv. From the brain and fpinal marrow proceed all the 
nerves, or inftruments of lenfation. Thefe nerves, the ram- 
ifications of which are infinitely various and minute, are dis- 
tributed upon the heart, lungs, blood vefTels, bowels, and 
mufcles, till they terminate on the fkin, or external covering 
of the body. The heart is the fountain, or general recepta- 
cle of the blood. The contraction of the heart propels the 
blood through the arteries, which are likewife diftributed,by 
numerous and complicated ramifications, over every part of 
the body, and terminate in the veins, which again collect the 
whole arterial blood into one cavity, and reconvey it to the 
heart. This circulatory procefs goes on during life. 

Befide the organs already mentioned, there are others, 
termed feretory, becaufe they feparate peculiar fluids from 



OF KATttRAL HISTORY. 27 

the general mafs of circulating blood. The ftomach and in- 
teftines are furnifhed with a vaft number of fmall tubes, call- 
ed lacleal duEls^ which f eparate and abforb the nutritious parts 
of the aliment, and reject all the groffer and ufelefs particles. 
Thefe duels, after innumerable communications with each 
other, unite into one large tube, diftinguifhed by the name 
ofrhe thoracic duff, which is the general refervoir of the chyle, 
or fecreted liquor. This chyle, which is a mild fluid, pafTes 
/from the thoracic duel: to the fubclavian vein ; and by this 
vein it is conveyed to the heart, where it mingles with the 
blood, and is circulated through the body, for the nourifh- 
ment of its different parts. It is of no moment, for our pre- 
fent purpofe, to be more particular, efpecially as this fubjecT: 
will be afterwards more fully handled. I fhall therefore juft 
mention, that there are particular organs or glands for fecre- 
ting various fluids, which are necefTary to the exiftence of 
the larger animals, as the kidneys for the fecretion of urine j 
the liver for the fecretion of gall ; the ftomach for the fecre- 
tion of the gaftric juices -, the falivary glands for the fecre- 
tion of faliva, &c. 

From this fketch of the ftructure of man and of quadru- 
peds, very little attention is necefTary to perceive, that na- 
ture purfues a fimilar plan in the formation of birds and fifties. 

In that numerous clafs of animals diftinguifhed by the 
name of infetls> there is a great variety of form and ftruclure. 
In many of thefe, nature feems to depart from her general 
mode of operation. But, upon a more accurate examination, 
this feeming departure will appear to be only an extenfion of 
that univerfal plan which flie obferves in the formation of 
all animated beings. Some infects, the lobfter, and all the 
cruftaceous and fhell animals, have their bones on the out- 
fide of their bodies. To thefe bones the mufcles and other 
inftruments of motion are attached. Many fpecies have no 
.bones, j but their bodies coniift of a fucceflion of rings inca- 



2S THE PHILOSOPHY 

fed into each other. By contracting and dilating thefe rings, 
all the movements of this kind are performed. The head, 
in fome fpecies, changes its form every moment. It contracts 
or dilates, appears or difappears, at the pleafure of the animal. 
Thefe motions are permitted by the flexibility of the mem- 
branes, or coverings of the head. In other fpecies, the form 
of the head is permanent, owing to the hardnefs of the cover- 
ings, which are fcaley or cruftaceous, and approaches nearer 
to that of the more perfect animals. 

Many infects are deftitute of particular organs. Some want 
eyes, ears, brain, and noftrils. Other have an acute fenfe of 
fmelling, though we know not the form nor fituation of the 
organ. The inferior fpecies of infects have no internal lungs, 
but receive air by lateral pores, and fometimes by long tubes, 
or tracheae, which protrude from different parts of the body. 
Many infects have no heart, or general refervoir for the re- 
ception and propulfion of the blood. But we difcover by the 
microfcope, that their blood circulates by the pulfation of ar- 
teries, and that their different fluids are fecreted by glands. 
In a word, nature, in the ftructure and functions of animals, 
defcends, by degrees almofl imperceptible, from man to the 
polypus, a being which, ever unce its oeconomy and proper- 
ties were difcovered by M. Trcmbley, has continued to afton- 
ifli both philofophers and naturalifts. The ftructure of the 
polypus, which inhabits frefh water pools and ditches, is ex- 
tremely limple. Its body confifts of a Angle tube, with long 
tentacula, or arms, at one extremity, by which it feizes fmall 
worms, and conveys them to its mouth. It has no proper 
head, heart, ftomach, or interlines of any kind. This fim- 
plicity of ftructure gives rife to an equal flmplicity in the 
oeconomy and functions of the animal. The polypus, though 
it has not the diftinction of fex, is extremely prolific. When 
about to multiply, a fmall protuberance or bud appears on 
the furface of its body. This bud gradually fwells and ex- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. %9 

tends. It includes not a young polypus, but is the real ani- 
mal in miniature, united to the mother as a fucker to the pa- 
rent tree. The food taken by the mother pafTes into the 
young by means of a communicating aperture. When the 
mooting polypus has acquired a certain growth, this aperture 
gradually clofes, and the young drops off, to multiply its fpe- 
cies in the fame manner. As every part of a polypus is ca- 
pable of fending off moots, it often happens, that the young 
before parting from the mother, begin to ihoot •, and the 
parent animal carries feveral generations on her own body. 
There is another Angularity in the hiflory of the polypus. 
When cut to pieces in every direction fancy can fuggeft, it 
not only continues to exift, but each fection foon becomes an 
animal of the fame kind. What is frill more furprifing, when 
inverted as a man inverts the finger of a glove, the polypus 
feems to have fuffered no material injury •, for it foon begins 
to take food, and to perform every other natural function. 
Here we have a wonderful inftance of animal ductility. No 
divifion, however minute, can deprive thefe worms of life. 
What infallibly deftroys other animals, ferves only in the 
polypus, to multiply the number of individuals. M. Trem- 
bley, in the courfe of his experiments, difcovered, that dif- 
ferent portions of one polypos could be ingrafted on another. 
Two tranfverfe fections brought into contact: quickly unite, 
and form one animal, though each f ection belongs to a differ- 
ent fpecies. The head of one fpecies may be ingrafted on 
the body of another. When a polypus is introduced by the 
tail into another's body, the two heads unite, and form one 
individual. Purfuing thefe ftrange operations, M. Trembley 
gave fcope to his fancy, and, by repeatedly fplitting the head 
and part of the body, formed hydras more complicated than 
«ver ftruck the imagination of the moll romantic fabulifts. 

D 



SO THE PHILOSOPHY 

This fhort account of the general ftructure of animals was 
a necefTary preparation for perceiving more clearly their con- 
nection with the vegetable kingdom. 

The ftru&ure of plants, like that of animals, confifts of a 
feries of veiTels difpofed in a regular order. Thefe vefTels 
are deftined to perform the different functions necefTary to 
the nourishment, growth, and diffemination of the plant. In 
trees, and moft of the larger vegetables, three diftinct parts 
are to be obferved ; the bark, the wood, and the pith. The 
bark likewife confifcs of three parts ; the fkin, the body, and 
the liber, or inner circle ; which laft, about the end of au- 
tumn, afTumes the fame texture and firmnefs with the wood. 
The lubftance of the bark is compofed of a number of lon- 
gitudinal fap and air vefTels, which have the appearance of 
fine threads, running from the root to the trunk and branch- 
es. Befide thefe veiTels, the bark is furnifhed with a paren- 
chymatous or pulpy fubftance, in which there are a vaft va- 
riety of folliculi) or fmail bladders. The bark is connected to 
the wood by tranfverfe infertions of the parenchyma. 

The wood confifts of two diftinct fubflances ; the one is 
denfe, and compact, and conftitutes what is termed the lig- 
neous body ; the other is porous, moift, and pulpy, and is 
therefore called the parenchymatous part of the wood. A 
portion of wood is placed alternately between a fimilar por- 
tion of parenchyma. Thefe alternate portions proceed from 
the edges of the pith, as radii from the center of a circle, 
widening proportionally as they approach the circumference. 
Both of them, however, like the bark, are furnifhed with 
numberlefs fap and air vefTels. 

The pith or heart is bounded on all fides by the wood, 
and is compofed of the fame materials : It is nothing but a 
vaft congeries of air and fap vefTels, interwoven with the 
parenchyma and bladders, not unlike the tiiTue of gauze or 
lace. This texture is common to every part of the trunk, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 31 

being only more clofe and compact in the bark and wood than 
in the pith. It is well known that the pith of plants dimin- 
ishes in proportion to their age. The reafon is obvious ; 
every year the ring of veffels, which lies contiguous to the 
wood j dries j condenfes, and becomes wood. 

The leaves of vegetables confift of a fine fkin,which inclo- 
fes the parenchyma or pulp. This {kin, like that of animals, 
is an organic body, furnifhed withan immenfe number of par- 
enchymatous and ligneous fibres, and interwoven in a manner 
precifely fimilar to that of the trunk and branches. When 
the fkin is removed, the pulp appears, and is every where 
interfperfed with fmall cylindrical fibres, wound up into mi- 
nute bladders. A large nerve runs along the middle of every 
leaf, and continually fends off branches, which gradually de- 
creafe in magnitude, till they reach the edge or difc. This 
principal nerve is a collection of fmall tubes, which, at proper 
diftances, go off, and are distributed over the leaf in a man- 
ner precifely fimilar to the distribution of the nerves over 
the human body. 

With regard to flowers and fruits, their general texture is 
the fame with that of the parts already defcribed, differing 
only in various proportions of the ligneous veffels and paren- 
chymatous or pulpy fubftance. That vegetables are pofieffed 
of fecretory glands, is apparent from the almoft. infinite va- 
riety of their taftes, odours, and colours. Thefe fenfible 
qualities differ even in different parts of the fame plant. 
But the glandular fecretion of vegetables is moft confpicuous 
in the flowers and fruit. Many flowers fecrete a neclareous 
fluid, which is more grateful to the palate than the fineft 
honey. The glands of fome fruits, as thofe of the lemon and 
orange, fecrete liquors of very different qualities. The vef- 
fels of the rhind contain an acrid effential oil, while thofe of 
the parenchyma or pulp fecrete an agreeable acid. 



32 TJHE PHILOSOPHY 

This fimilarity in the general ftructure or animals and 
plants is ftrongly corroborated by the analogous parts in both 
being deftined to anfwer the fame purpofes. 

The oeconomy and functions of vegetables, as well as thofe 
of animals, are the refults of a vafcular texture. Each of 
thefe claffes of beings have velTels deftined to 'the perform- 
ance of fimilar offices. In. man and quadrupeds, the fluids 
are circulated by the pulfation of the heart and arteries. 
The juices of plants do not circulate •, but they are raifed 
from the root to the trunk, branches, leaves, flowers, and 
fruit by the fap-veffels. The afrenfion of the fap has been 
afcribed to capillary attraction. But, though no motion is 
perceptible in the fap-veflels fimilar to the pulfation of arte- 
ries ; yet, both the propulflon of the fap, which moves with 
great force, and the fecretion of different fluids by different 
parts of the fame plant, imply an action in thefe veflels. In 
animals, the gall, the urine, the faliva, are all concocted from 
the general mafs of blood by the action of particular veflels. 
Fluids of thefe different qualities exift not in the blood itfelf ; 
they are created by an incomprehenflble operation of the 
veflels peculiar to their refpective glands. In plants, the fap 
afcends, and different fluids are fecreted from it by glandular 
veflels. Here the fame effects are produced both in the an- 
imal and the plant. We muft, therefore, attribute them to 
the fame caufe, namely, the action of veflels. Befides, the 
fap, which is the blood of plants, moves with a force often 
equivalent to the weight of the atmofphere. M. Bonnet 
remarks*, that he has feen, by means of coloured liquors, 
the vegetable fap move three inches in an hour ; and Dr. 
Hales, in his ftatics, has fhown, that the leaves are the prin- 
cipal organs of tranfpiration. He likewife confiders them 
to be the inftruments which raife the fap. But it has flnce 
been difcovered, that coloured liquors rife equally high in 
* Oeuvres, torn. i. p, 140. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. §g 

branches deprived of leaves, and that they do not rife at all 
in dried plants. Hence the fap of vegetables is not taken 
up in the fame manner as a fpunge imbibes water, but is for- 
ced to afcend by an unknown action of the veffels. The 
fpring of the tracheae may put in motion the air they con- 
tain, and that air may have fome influence on the general 
movement. But, by whatever powers the fap is moved, the 
exiftence of the motion is certain ; and it is equally certain, 
that this movement of the fap produces the fame effects in the 
vegetable, that the force of the heart and arteries does in the 
animal. 

The motion of the fap in vegetables, is not properly a cir- 
culation fimilar to that of the blood in the more perfect ani- 
mals. It afcends and defcends in the fame veffels ; and thefe 
motions are evidently affected by heat and cold. The fap 
rifes copioufly in a warm day, and defcends during the night, 
nearly in the fame manner as the mercury rifes and falls in 
the thermometer. But, though the analogy here fails with 
regard to man and the larger animals, yet it holds in the ta- 
enia, the polypus, and many other infects, which exhibit not 
the faialleft veftiges of circulation in their juices. 

The pith, or medullary fubftance of plants, has fome re- 
femblance to the brain and fpinal-marrow of animals. When 
the texture of the brain or fpinal-marrow is deftroyed, life is 
extinguished ; and, when the pith of plants is deftroyed or 
dried up by age, they no longer retain the power of vegeta- 
ting. The leaves of plants are analogous to the lungs of an- 
imals. It is by the lungs that the perfpiration of animals is 
chiefly effected : and plants difcharge moft of their fuperflu- 
ous moifture by the leaves. They expofe a large furface to 
the action of the fun, which produces a tranfpiration fo copi- 
ous, that fome plants throw out fifteen or twenty times more 
in a given period, than is difcharged from the human body. 
When a plant is deprived of its leaves in fummer, inftead of 



34 THE PHILOSOPHY 

ripening its fruit, it is in great danger of dying for want of 
thofe organs which carry off the fuperfluous juices that arife 
from the root. A plant, in this Situation, may be considered 
as labouring under an afthma, or dying of a fuffocation. 

Befide the leaves, plants tranfpire by the pores of the fkin. 
But the quantity emitted in this manner is not nearly equal 
to that which hTues from the leaves. The fame thing hap- 
pens with regard to man and quadrupeds. Though they like- 
wife perfpire through the fkin, yet by much the greater quan- 
tity of perfpirable matter is difcharged by the lungs. Befide 
throwing out fuperfluous or noxious matter by the leaves, 
plants, by the fame organs, abforb from the atmofphere, and 
perhaps from the fun's rays, fome unknown matter, which is 
neceSTary to their exiftence. The lungs of animals likewife 
derive, from the fame fources, a particular matter or princi- 
ple, without which life could not long be continued. 

Another analogy between the ftructure of plants and an- 
imals merits obfervation. The round bones of animals con- 
fift of concentric ftrata or plates, which can be eafily fepara- 
ted ; and the wood of plants confift of concentric layers of 
hardened vefTels, which feparate when macerated in water. 
A tree acquires an additional ring every year ; and, by coun- 
ting thefe rings, a pretty exact eftimation of its age may be 
attained. 

The branches of plants have been confidered as analogous to 
the arms or tentacula of animals. But this is one of thofe 
ftrained analogies which fliould be carefully avoided. The 
great ufe of branches is evident. By producing an amazing 
number of leaves, a large furface is expofed to the air and fun, 
to anfwer the important purpofes of tranfpiration andabforp- 
tion. If there is any thing in plants analogous to the arms 
or tentacula of animals, it muft be confined to fuch fpecies 
as twifl themfelves around poles or trees, as the ivy, the vine, 
the convolvulus, &c. and to fuch as fupport their trunks on 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 55 

other bodies by means of little hooks, as the goofe-grafs, and 
many other kinds. 

All thefe analogies, it may be remarked, are confined to 
large animals and large vegetables ; but they hold not in that 
numerous tribe of plants called grajfes. Inflead of being filled 
with wood and pith, their ftems are perfectly hollow \ and, 
to fortify thefe plants, Nature has beftowed on them ftrong 
joints or knots, which are placed at regular diftances in each 
fpecies. But, though fome of the analogies which fubfift be- 
tween the larger animals and vegetables exift not in the fmal- 
ler plants, this circumftance, inftead of infringing, confirms 
the general plan of nature. To difcover the analogies be- 
tween tubular plants and animals, we muft examine the ftruc- 
ture of the minuter tribes of animated beings. The grafies 
have neither pith nor wood internally ; and the polypus, the 
taenia, and many other infects, have no bones, heart, or in- 
teftines, but are flmple tubes, perfectly refembling the empty 
ftems of the gramineous plants. Befides, the ligneous, or at 
leaft the herbaceous part of thefe plants, is placed on the out- 
fide, fimilar to the cruftaceous and fhell animals, whofe bones 
are fituated externally. Another analogy muft not be omit- 
ted. The fucculent vegetables, fuch as the houfe-leek, the 
mufhroom tribes, and many fea-plants, confift almoft entirely 
of a pulpy or parenchymatous fubftance, and may be crufhed 
to a jelly by the ilighteft prefiure. The texture of worms, 
caterpillars, and of all the foft infects, is extremely fimilar to 
that of the fucculent vegetables. 

II. GROWTH and NOURISHMENT. 

THE fecond fource of analogies between the plant and an- 
imal is derived from the modes of their growth and nourifh- 
ment. 

Many ingenious theories have been invented, with a view 
to explain the myfterious operation by which the growth 



56 THE PHILOSOPHY 

arid nourifhment of animals and vegetables are effected. But 
I {hall confine myfelf, at prefent, to fuch remarks as are pure- 
ly analogical, and may be fully underftood without a minute 
knowledge of the different ways by which growth and nour- 
ishment have been fuppofed to be accomplifhed. 

Animals,like vegetables, gradually expand from an embryo 
or gelatinous ftate, and, according to their kinds, arrive foon- 
er or later at perfection. This expanfion and augmentation 
offubftancc is the idea conveyed by the word growth. "With- 
out fome nutritious matter taken into the body, and aflimila- 
ted, by the action of velTels, to the fubftance of the being 
that receives it, growth cannot take place. Moifture is the 
chief food of plants. But the food of animals, in general, va- 
ries with the fpecies. This fact led fome philofophers to con- 
clude, that every plant extracted from the foil a food peculiar 
to its own nature. It was, however, afterwards difcovered, 
by repeated experiments, that vegetables can grow, and ac- 
quire a very confiderable degree of bulk and weight, without 
exhaufting a perceptible quantity of the earth in which 
they are planted. Thefe experiments are a fufiicient 
proof, that moifture conftitutes the chief nourishment of 
plants. They likewife indicate, that vegetables,however di- 
verfified in their figure, denfity, and fibrous arrangement,are 
more flmple in their texture than animals. But, notwith- 
standing thefe feeming differences in the nourifhment of 
plants and animals, Nature fails not to obferve the famecourfe 
jn both kingdoms. The food of the animal, before it is con- 
verted into nourifhment, muft go through the intricate 
procefs of digeftion. But, after the food has been con- 
verted into chyle, and the chyle into blood, this blood be- 
comes a common fluid, from which all nourifhment and all 
animal fluids are derived. Here the analogy is apparent. 
Moifture is to the plant precifely what blood is to the animal. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 37 

Each of tliem extracts its nourifhment from a common fluid ; 
and, in both, this fluid is changed, by the action of veffels, 
into the various juices peculiar to the different fpecies. 

When growth firffc commences, the embryos of plants and 
animals are in fimilar circumftances. Soon after conception, 
the foetus is inclofed in its membranes, and is nourifhed, till 
mature for birth, by blood which it receives from the uterus 
and placenta. In the fame manner, the embryo of a plant is 
inclofed in the membranes of the feed •, and its fibrous roots 
are fpread over the lobes or pulpy part. After the feed is 
fown, and vegetation commences, the embryo is nourifhed by 
moifture, which the lobes abforb from the earth, and convey 
it to the minute tubes of the feminal root. In many plants, 
thefe lobes rife above the furface of the ground, in the form 
of leaves, and continue to nourifh and protect the tender 
plume or ftem, till it acquires ftrength fufficient to fupport 
the affaults of the air and weather. A plant, in this fituation, 
may be faid lo have two roots ; one, the fibres of which are 
diffufed through the fubftance of the lobes, or feminal leaves, 
and another attached to the foil. 

The nourifhment thus conveyed to vegetables by the fem- 
inal leaves, is extremely analogous to that of animals by the 
milk of the mother. The texture of young animals is fo lax 
and unelaftic, that the food fuited to maturer years would 
foon put a period to their exiftence. But Nature has provi- 
ded againft this inconveniency. She has endowed females 
with a fet of veffels deflined for the fecretion of a mild liquor, 
fo far concocted and animalized as to be adapted to the ten- 
der and flaccid condition of their young. A fimilar provi- 
fion of nourifhment is afforded to the young vegetable. For 
fome time after the plume and radicle have begun to jQioot, 
their texture is fo extremely tender, that they are unable to 
fupport each other without fome foreign aid. This aid is af- 
forded them by the feminal leaves. Thefe leaves abforb dews, 

E 



38 THE PHILOSOPHY 

air, and other fine fluids, which are concocted and affimilated 
in the vefTels of the feminal root, and then conveyed, in a kind 
of vegetable form, to the feeble veiTels of the plume. Hence 
it is apparent, that the nourishment of young animals by 
milk, and of young vegetables by feminal leaves, is the fame 
inftitution of nature, and effected by fimilar inftruments. 

Plants, like animals, pafs gradually from an embryo, or in- 
fant ftate, to that of puberty. At this period of their exift- 
ence, they have acquired that firmnefs of texture, and that 
evolution of parts, which conftitute the perfection of their 
natures, and enable them to produce beings every way fimilar 
to themfelves. In both kingdoms, the age of puberty arrives 
later or more early, according to the difference of fpecies. 
Some animals live a few months only. Many of the infect 
tribes are produced, grow to maturity, propagate their kind, 
and die in the courfe of a fingle feafon. Others, as feveral 
flies, beetles, &c. exift two years. Thus animals have a pro- 
greffive duration of life. The dormoufe lives fix years, the 
hare {even or eight, the bear twenty or twenty five, the cam- 
el forty or fifty, the rhinoceros feventy or eighty, the ele- 
phant two hundred ; and fome birds and fifties are fuppofed 
to exift during throe or four centuries. The fame progrefiive 
duration takes place among vegetables. Some plants are an- 
nual, as mod of the efculent kinds ; others, as the hedge- 
parfley, the wild carrot, the parfnip, the fox-glove, the fcurvy 
grafs, &c. are biennial ; others exift three, five, feven, ten, 
twenty, thirty, fixty, and a hundred years ; and the oak, like 
the elephant and thofe birds and fifties which are famed for 
longevity, continues to adorn the foreft for feveral centuries. 

The manner by which the nutritious particles are extract- 
ed from food, is very fimilar in the animal and the plant. In 
the animal, this operation is performed by the lacteal veiTels, 
which are distributed over the internal furface of the ftomach 
and inteftines. In the plant, the fame office is performed by 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 3$ 

the veflels of the root and leaves. Hence animals are orga- 
nized beings nourished by roots fituated within their bodies •, 
and plants are organized bodies which abford their nourifh- 
ment by roots placed externally. E elides, in "alt viviparous 
animals, the foetus is nourifhed, not by food taken in at the 
mouth, butbyvefTels attached to the placenta. ThefevefTels 
perform the fame office to the foetus, that roots do to vege- 
tables. 

Warmth and moifture are favourable to the production of 
large and juicy plants 5 and the animals that feed upon thefe 
fucculent and rich vegetables, are Iikewife larger than thofe 
which inhabit cold countries, where the plants are fmaller, 
more rigid, and contain fewer nutritive particles. 

Some plants grow in particular climates only. The rubus 
arfiicus, a fpecies of bramble, fo common in Norway and Ca- 
nada, hardly endures the climate of Upfal, in Sweden. But 
the alfine media, or chickweed 3 and feveral graffes, are diffu- 
fed over almoft the whole globe. In the fame manner, fome 
animals, as the camel, the rhinoceros^ and the elephant, are 
produced in warm climates only ; while others, as the rein- 
deer, glutton, and marmot, are confined to the colder regions 
of the earth 5 and man, in the animal, like fome graffes in the 
vegetable kingdom, is univerfal, and inhabits every climate. 

Some plants, as well as fome animals, are amphibious, as 
the rufh and the frog ; others are parafites, and feed on the 
juices they extract from the different fpecies to which they 
adhere. The mifTeltoe, for example, feeds upon the oak ; 
moft trees afford nourifhment to certain mofTes and fungous 
plants j and every animal is fed upon by fmaller kinds. , 

The growth of plants, like that of animals, may be accele- 
rated or retarded by promoting or checking their perfpira- 
tion, and by excluding them from proper exercife and air. 
When men, or other animals, are confined to fituations 
which prevent the free accefs of pure air, their growth is 



40 THE PHILOSOPHY 

retarded *, and their fickly colour indicates a defect of vigour. 
Plants, when placed in fimilar circumftances, are always weak, 
dwarfifh, and unnaturally coloured. But exercife is equally 
neceffary to the health and vigour of plants, as it is to thofe 
of animals. The exercife of animals is effected by various 
kinds of fpontaneous motion. Plants are likewife exercifed 
by motion ; but that motion is not voluntary j it is commu- 
nicated to them by the action of the air. The agitation 
which they receive from the winds enables them to extend 
their roots, prevents them from a growth too rapid, and, of 
courfe, ftrengthens their whole fabric. It is owing to the 
want of this agitation, that plants brought up in houfes, or 
in other confined fituations, moot out to an unnatural length ; 
that their items and branches are always flender and weak ; 
and that they ripen not their fruit like thofe which are expo- 
fed to the open air. 

To conclude this branch of the fubject, plants and animals 
are fo nearly allied, that their growth and nourifhment are 
not only effected by fimilar inftruments, but fome parts of an- 
imal bodies evidently partake of a vegetable nature. Thus, 
the hairs, the nails, the beaks, and the horns, are a fpecies of 
vegetables, as appears from their comparative total infenfibil- 
ity, as well as from the mode of their growth and repro- 
duction. 

III. DISSEMINATION and DECAY. 

WE fhall next take an analogical view of the difTemination 
and decay of the animal and vegetable. 

The power of reproduction is peculiar to the plant and 
animal. Each of them is capable of producing beings every 
way fimilar to the parent. But the modes by which this An- 
gular effect is accomplifhed, are very different in appearance. 
It is our prefent purpofe to remove this apparent difference, 
and to fhow that animals and vegetables multiply their fpecies 
in a manner extremely analogous. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 4i 

Animals have long been divided into viviparous and ovipa- 
rous. The one clafs produce their young alive, the other 
lay eggs, which muff be hatched either by the heat of the 
fun, or by that of the mother. This divifion, though very 
comprehenfive, is not perfect. Several animals have lately 
been difcovered which are neither viviparous nor oviparous ; 
and there are animals which unite both thefe modes of mul- 
tiplication. 

The viviparous clafs comprehends men, quadrupeds, and 
fome fifties, reptiles, and infects. The oviparous includes 
birds, fome reptiles, and moft of the infect tribes. But the 
armed polypus, or hydra of Linnaeus, inftead of being either 
viviparous or oviparous, multiplies its fpecies, as formerly 
remarked, by fending off fhoots from the body of the parent. 

Another fpecies, called the bell-polypus> or hydra Jlentorea of 
Linnaeus, multiplies by fplitting longitudinally. In twenty- 
four hours, thefe divifions, which adhere to a common 
pedicle, refplit, and form four diftinct animals. Thefe four, 
in an equal time, again fplit ; and thus they proceed doub- 
ling their numbers daily, till they acquire a figure fomewhat 
refembling a nofegay. The young afterwards feparate from 
the parent flock, attach themfelves to the roots or leaves of 
aquatic plants, and each individual gives rife to a new colony, 

The funnel-ftiaped polypus multiplies by fplitting tranf- 
verfely. Of the individuals, accordingly, which proceed 
from this divifion, one has the old head and a new tail, and 
the other a new head and the old tail. The fuperior divifion 
fwims off, and fixes itfelf to fome other fubftance ; but the 
inferior divifion remains attached to the former pedicle. 

The dart-millepes affords another example of multiplica- 
t ion by fpontaneous feparation. This infect divides, about 
two-thirds below the head, into two diftinct and perfect ani- 
mals ; and it feems to poffefs no other mode of continuing 
the fpecies. 



42 THE PHILOSOPHY 

The multiplication of the various animalcules which ap- 
pear in infufions of animal and vegetable fubftances, long oc- 
cupied the attention, and eluded the refearches of philofo- 
phers. This difcovery of the increafe of fome larger animals 
by fpontaneous divifion, gave rife to the conjecture, that thefe 
microfcopic animalcules might multiply their numbers in a 
fimilar manner. This conjecture was communicated to M. 
de SaufTure in a letter from Bonnet, who received an anfwer, 
dated at Genoa, September 28, 1769, to the following 
purpofe. 

« "What you propofe as a doubt,' fays M de SaufTure, < I 

* have verified by inconteftible experiments, namely, that 
c infufion-animalcules multiply by continued divifions and 
' fubdivifions. Thofe round ifh or oval animalcules that 
( have no beak or hook on the fore part of their bodies, 

< divide tranfverfely. A kind of ftriclure, or ftrangulation 

* begins about the middle of the body, which gradually in- 
c creafes, till the two parts adhere by a fmall thread only. 

* Then both parts make repeated efforts, till the divifion is 
6 completed. For fometime after feparation, the two animals 
€ remain in a feemingly torpid ftate. They afterwards be- 

* gin to fwim about brifkly. Each part is only one half the 

* fize of the whole ; but they foon acquire the magnitude 
e peculiar to the fpecies, and multiply by fimilar divifions.' 
c To obviate every doubt, ' continues our author, s I put a 

* fingle animalcule into a drop of water, which fplit before 

< my eyes. Next day I had live, the day after, fixty, 

< and, on the third day, their number was fo great, that it was 
c impoffible to count them*. 

c Another fpecies, with a beak or horn on the fore part of 

t its body, which I obtained from an infufion of hemp-feed, 

« multiplied likewife by divifion, but in a manner ftill more 

? fingular than the former. This animalcule, when about to^ 

*La Palingenefie Phiiofophique, par C. Bonnet, torn. p. 428. 419. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 43 

6 divide, attaches itfelf to the bottom of the infuflon, contracts 
« it3 body, which is naturally oblong, into a fpherical form, 

* fo that the beak entirely difappears. It then begins to 
1 move brifkly round, fometimes from right to left, and 
« fometimes from left to right, the centre of motion being 

< always fixed. Towards the end, its motion accelerates, 
( and, inftead of -a uniform fphere, X w ° crofs-like divifions 

* begin to appear. Soon after, the creature is greatly agi- 
c tated, and fplits into four animalcules perfectly fimilar, 

* though fmaller than that from which they were produced. 

< Thefe four increaie to the ufual ilze, and each, in its turn, 
« fubdivides into other four*.' &c. 

The beauties of nature have been juftly celebrated in the 
uniformity of her productions. This uniformity was early- 
remarked, and gave rife to the ancient divifion of animals 
into viviparous and oviparous, which continued to be adopt- 
ed as an univerfal maxim till within thefe hundred years. 
Before this period, it was believed by philofophers, that all 
animals were either brought forth alive, or hatched from eggs. 
Among the ancients, indeed, and even down to the time 
of the celebrated Rcdi, this maxim included chiefly the more 
perfect animals •, for, with regard to moft of the infect tribes, 
they imagined that thefe were produced by putrefaction, and 
the admixture of particular kinds of matter. But Redi, by 
a feries of unqueflionable experiments, exploded the doctrine 
of the equivocal generation of infects ; and then the maxim, 
without further invefcigation, was extended to the whole 
animal kingdom. Redi's experiments and remarks turned 
the attention of philofophers to the minuter tribes of animals. 
In the courle of a lew years, accordingly, feveral eminent 
men arofe. Reaumur, Bonnet, Trembley, Ellis, Spalanzani, 
and a multitude of other writers, opened new views with re- 

* Idem, p. 430, 



4?4? THE PHILOSOPHY 

gard to the manners and oeconomy of animated beings*. M. 
Bonnet has furnifhed inconteftible evidence, that feveral fpe- 
cies of the puceron, or vine-fretter, are both oviparous and 
viviparous. In fummer, thefe infects bring forth their young 
alive j but, in autumn, they depolit eggs upon the bark and 
branches of trees. Here the intention of nature is apparent. 
The puceron is unable to furvive the winter colds; and, there- 
fore, though viviparous during the warm months, the fpecies 
could not be continued without this wife provifion. The 
puceron, it fhouid appear, is naturally difpofed to produce live 
young. The foetus is inclofed in a membrane, which, like 
that of the larger animals, burfts before exclufion. But, when 
the cold feafon commences, the general texture of the ani- 
mals, as well as the membranes inclofing the foetus, becomes 
more firm and tenacious ; and this, perhaps is the physical 
reafon why they are viviparous in fummer, and oviparous in 
autumn. Many other flies are known to be viviparous. 
Upon further examination, all thefe will probably be difcov- 
ered to be alfo oviparousf. 

The puceron exhibits another phenomenon ftill more 
iingular. The maxim, that multiplication prefuppofed im- 
pregnation by fexual embraces, was formerly thought to be 
univerfal. Neither fhouid the reception of this maxim be 
regarded as a matter of wonder ; for it was founded on a very 
general and ftrong analogy. But the following facts fhow, 
that nature, though uniform in many fteps of her progrefs, is 
not invariably limited to the fame mode of operation. On 
the 20th day of May, M. Bonnet took a young puceron, 
the moment after dropping from the womb of its mother, 
and fhut it up in a glafs vefTel, to prevent all poflibility of 
communication with any individual of the fpecies. A fprig 
of the tree on which the animal was produced, fupplied it 

* Traite d'Infedtologiejpar C. Bonnet, torn. i.p. 194. — 202. 
f See Reaumur, torn, 8, edit. i2nio, p, 153. et feg. 



OF NATURAL HISTO-RY. 45 

with nouriihment. The creature changed its fkin four times, 
namely, on the 23d, 26th, 29th, and 31ft days of the fame 
month. After a minute detail of circumftances, M. Bonnet 
informs us, that his imprifoned puceron grew with rapidity \ 
that, on the I ft day of June, it brought forth \ and that, 
from this day to the 21ft, it produced no lefs than 95 young, 
all full of hfe and vigour*. He frequently repeated this ex- 
periment, and it was always followed with the fame event. 

M. Bonnet, fufpecting that a fingle impregnation might 
influence both the mother and her immediate offspring, re- 
folved to obviate every difficulty. For this purpofe, he con- 
fined, in feparate glaffes, young of the fucceffive births, 
as they dropped from their mothers. Each of thefe, however, 
were equally fertile, though he continued the experiment to 
the ninth generation from the original parentf . 

Facts of this kind, which feem to interrupt the ordinary 
current of nature, fhould infpire philofophers with caution. 
They fhould create reverence for Cuch of Her operations as are 
already known -, but they fhould likewife check that rafti 
fpirit which too frequently draws unlimited conclufions, be- 
fore the fubject be fully inveftigated. Of all inductions 
regarding the hiftory of nature, the necefEty of fexual com- 
merce for multiplying the fpecies appeared to be the moft 
general and the moft legitimate. The oeconomy of the pu- 
ceron, however, demonftrates, that even this law is not indif- 
penfable, and that nature has the power of changing her fteps, 
and of accomplifhing the fame purpofes by various means. 

Having enumerated the different modes by which animals 
multiply their fpecies, I fhali next fhow, that the multiplica- 
tion of vegetables is extremely analogous. 

The viviparous, as well as the oviparous animals, are fup- 
pofed to proceed from eggs, with this difference, that the 

* Bonnet, Tralte d'Infe&ologie, torn. i,p. 39. ; and Reaumur, torn, I2,p, 3$ 3. 
f Bonnet, 7 raite d'Infedologie, torn. 1. p. 74. et feq. 

F 



40 THE PHILOSOPHY 

young of the viviparous are hatched in the uterus previous 
to their exclufion. 

Many ftriking anologies fubfift between the eggs of ani- 
mals and the feeds of plants. When placed in proper cir- 
cumftances, they both produce young every way fimilar to the 
parents. To accomplifh this wonderful effect, the egg re- 
quires impregnation and heat. Moifture, warmth, and foil, 
or fome fimilar matrix, are neceffary for the exclufion of the 
young plant. This analogy has been extended much farther 
by Linnaeus, and other fupporters of the fexual fyftem of 
plants. They maintain, that impregnation is equally indif- 
penfable to the vegetation of the feed, as to the fertility of 
the egg. But, as this doctrine will be difcufTed when we 
come to treat of fexes in general, we fhall here difmifs it 
without farther remark. 

Eggs are not only analogous to feeds, in their general def- 
tination of reproducing individuals, and continuing the fpe- 
cies, but there is a great fimilarity in the ftructure and ufes 
of their refpective organs. 

The internal parts of the egg are covered with a cruft or 
fhell, and two membranes. Befide thefe, the yoke is includ- 
ed in a feparate membrane. When the two firft membranes 
are removed, the white appears every way inverting the yoke. 
In the white, or rather on the membrane of the yoke, a fmall 
cicatrice is difcernible, in the centre of which is the puncfum 
fallens, or embryo of the future animal. After two or three 
days incubation, this pimElum /aliens becomes red, and fhoots 
out blood-vefTels, which are difperfed through the yoke, in 
the fame manner as the veffels of a fcetus are diflributed 
over the placenta. 

A feed is likewife covered with a {hell, or cruftaceous 
membrane. Another membrane inverts the whole ker- 
nel, or pulpy lobes of the feed. Each lobe, like the 
yoke of the egg, is involved in a feparate membrane. In 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. . 4? 

every feed there is alfo a fmall cicatrice, or aperture, through 
which the young plant hTues. Immediately under this ci- 
catrice, the plume, or future plant, is difcernible, refembling 
the punBums /aliens of the egg. The branches of the radicle 
proceed from this plume, and are difperfed through the fbb- 
ftance of the lobes, in the fame manner as the blood-vefTels 
iffue from the punBum fallens of the egg, and are diftributed 
over the yoke. It is by the pulp of the lobes that the radicle 
and plume are nouri(hed,till the one fhoots down into the foil, 
and the other mounts above the furface. In feeds, there is 
nothing analogous to the white of an egg. Such a provision 
would have been fuperfluous •, for the earth, in which the 
feeds are to germinate, muft always be moift, otherwife the 
young plant could not receive nourifhment, after ifluing 
from the feed. Beiides, the eggs of fifties have no white, 
becaufe they are perpetually moiftened with water. 

The analogies arifing from the multiplication of animals 
and plants, by means of eggs and feeds, are the moft com- 
mon, and the moft obvious. Eggs and feeds are evidently 
organs formed on the fame plan, and deftined by Nature to 
anfwer the fame general intention : But the multiplication 
of plants, as well as that of animals, is not confined foiely to 
one mode. 

The young of viviparous animals, though they probably 
originate from fmall eggs, are not brought forth till they 
have acquired a certain age and firmnefs of texture. It may 
be thought, that there is no multiplication of plants which 
has any refemblance to that of viviparous animals. We 
fhould reflect, however, that plants can multiply by buds. 
Now, a bud has no analogy, either in texture or appearance, 
to a feed. Buds arife from the ftems or branches of vege- 
table?. One object in their formation is to produce leaves 
and branches, as well as to extend the length of the trunk 
$>r ftem. But they are likewife endowed with the faculty of 



48 -THE PHILOSOPHY 

reproducing new individuals. In this refpe£t, trees and 
Shrubs may be considered as viviparous plants ; becaufe they 
produce out of their own bodies an organ, which, though dif- 
fering in every view from a feed, is brought forth alive, and, 
when properly cherifhed, is converted into a being perfectly 
Similar to the parent, and capable of continuing its fpecies. 
The embryo of a bud commences its exiftence under the 
bark. Here it remains, for fome time, inclofed in membra- 
nous coverings, and attached to the bark by minute fibres, 
which convey to it a nourishment fuited to its condition. 
When arrived at a certain Size and conSiStence, it pierces the 
bark, and moots out into the open air. If allowed to re- 
main on the parent, it foon burSts through its membranes, 
and, in time, gives rife to a new branch : But, when detach- 
ed from the parent, and placed in proper circumfrances, it 
becomes a new individual of the fame fpecies. 

Bulbous rooted plants furnifh a ftill Stronger analogy be- 
tween the increafe of viviparous animals and that of vegeta- 
bles. In the end of autumn, if the coats of any bulbous 
root be carefully difTecled, the entire plant in minature will 
appear in the centre of the root. In fpring, this fmall 
plant, like a foetus inclofed in the uterus, pierces the coats of 
which the root conSiSts, and gradually grows till it flowers, 
ripens its feeds, and dies at the approach of winter, when a 
new plant is again formed in the old root. Here we have 
an example of the multiplication of plants Similar to that of 
the puceron ; but the order of time is reverfed. The puce- 
ron is viviparous in fummer, and oviparous in autumn ; but 
bulbous-rooted plants may be considered as oviparous in 
fummer, and viviparous in autumn. 

The fame analogy is to be traced ki thofe roots which 
have what are called eyes, like the pctatoe. Thefe eyes are 
all plants in minature, which live in that State during the 
winter, and, when committed to the foil, come to maturity 
in fummer. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 49 

There are ftill other modes of multiplying common to 
the animal and vegetable. Many plants are multiplied by 
fuckers, flips, and cuttings. 

The animal kingdom furnifhes examples of allthefe modes 
of multiplication. The fuckers of plants have an exact anal- 
ogy to the moots of a polypus. When feparated from the 
parent, the fucker becomes a perfect plant, and the moot of 
the polypus a perfect animal. Plants are capable of multi- 
plication by flips and cuttings : And the portions of a poly- 
pus, however fmall, or when cut in any direction, repro- 
duce, and become perfect animals of the fame fpecies. 

But iome fpecies of the polypus, the dart-millepes, and 
leveral animalcules which appear in infufions of animal and 
vegetable fubftances, multiply by fplitting, or fpontaneous 
feparation. Here the analogy between the animal and vege- 
table might be fuppofed to fail. The water-lentil, however, 
a fmall plant, which covers the furface of ftagnating pools, 
multiplies its fpecies by detaching thin films from the under 
fide of the leaf. Thefe films or tender leaves produce roots, 
and vegetate into a regular plant. 

We muft not difmifs this fubject till another analogy be 
unfolded. All animals have feafons peculiar to their refpec- 
tive kinds. Some of the larger animals produce in the 
fpring, others in fummer, others in autumn, and others in 
winter. With regard to the infect tribes, their feafons are 
fiill more various. Every month, every week of the year, 
gives birth to different fpecies. The feafons of plants are 
diverfified in a fimilar manner. The growth of different 
vegetables is diflributed over the whole year. Particular 
tribes fpring up at the fame uniform periods. In this beau- 
tiful diverfity of arrangement, the intensions of Nature are 
evident. If all plants were to rufli forward at the lame 
time, they would infallibly choke each other. The furface 
of the earth rould not afford them room. Nature has there^ 



50 THE PHILOSOPHY 

fore wifely ordained, that the earth fhould always be cover* 
ed with plants : But fhe has alfo ordained, that particular 
tribes fhould die at ftated periods, to make way for the ex* 
iftence of others. The fame inconvenience would happen 
if the production of all animals, and particularly that vaft 
number of fpecies, and that immenfe profufion of individu- 
als, to which the infect tribes give birth, were to take place 
at one period. The air would be fo crowded with noxious 
creatures, that neither man nor the larger animals could pofii- 
bly exift. Beiides, the fpecies which feed upon particular 
plants, if they were produced at a time when thefe plants did 
not flourifh, would infallibly perifh for want of food. In 
Lapland, where the duration of heat is extremely fhort, the 
whole infects which inhabit that dreary and barren region 
are produced in a few weeks. Though the number of fpe- 
cies, compared with thofe of the more prolific climates, be 
very limited, the inconvenience is feverely felt. But every 
natural evil is accompanied with fome advantage. The rein* 
deer, upon which the exiftence of the Laplanders chiefly de- 
pends, are tormented by the fwarms of flies. To aveid their 
numberlefs enemies, thefe animals leave the vallies, and 
afcend the mountains, where the cold is too great for the 
flies to follow. In thefe lofty regions, the rein-deer feed 
during the hot feafofr, and return to the vallies after the cold 
has deftroyed the myriads of infects. This forced migration 
has too good effects : It both preferves the health of the 
rein-deer, and the vegetables in the vallies, which otherwife 
would have been prematurely exhaufted. 

The operation of engrafting was long thought to be pecu- 
liar to the vegetable kingdom. But M. Trembley found, 
that feveral fpecies of the frefh-water polypus could fuccefs- 
fully undergo this wonderful procefs. Since his time, it has 
been difcovered, that the aBinia, or fea-nettle, is likewife 
capable of being engrafted to an individual of the fame cr cf 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 51 

a different fpecies. In all thefe inftances, the portions of 
the divided animals grow together, and become diftinct in- 
dividuals. 

Having traced the general analogies between the ftructure 
and oeconomy of the animal and vegetable, from the rudi- 
ments of their exiftence till they have acquired full maturi- 
ty, and performed the necefTary office of multiplying their 
fpecies, we proceed to the laft and only melancholy branch 
of this fubject, the unavoidable decay and death of every fuc- 
ceffive individual in both kingdoms. 

It is an invariable law of Nature, that all organized bodies 
fhould have a conftant tendency to dhTolution. But the 
periods of their exiftence vary according to the fpecies. 
Previous to actual refolution, plants as well as animals are 
fubject to a number of analogous affections and difeafes. 
When over-heated, plants fhow evident marks of languor 
and fatigue : Their leaves become flaccid, their items and 
branches bend toward the earth, their juices evaporate, and 
their whole texture affumes the appearances of weaknefs and 
decay. The application of too great a degree of cold makes 
the flowers, the leaves, the bark, and even the woody fibres, 
ihrivel and contract in their dimenfions. When deprived 
of proper light and air, their colours fade, and they foon ac- 
quire a lurid and fickly afpect. They are like wife fubject to 
be ftarved for want of nourishment. The growth of plants, 
as well as that of animals, is checked by fcanty fupplies of 
food. When the foil or fituation is unkindly, vegetables are 
always weak and dwarfifh, and their prolific powers are di- 
minifhed. They may alfo be poifoned by the abforption of 
fluids hoftile to their conftitution. Befide thefe general af- 
fections, common to the plant and animal, vegetables are in- 
jured and often killed, by particular difeafes. 

Some difeafes attack the leaves only, and produce fpots of 
▼arious colours, rugofities, puftules, galls, &c. Others are 



52 THE PHILOSOPHY 

peculiar to the flowers and fruit, and often occafion barren- 
nefs for a feafon ; and fometimes this fterility continues dur- 
ing the exiftence of the plant. Others aflault the vifcera, or 
internal organs, and gave rife to obftructions, tumors, and a 
gradual refolution and corruption of the whole fabrick. 
Many of the difeafes of plants are produced by the infect 
tribes. Their wounds and depredations are not confined to 
particular parts, but extend from the root to the ftem, branch- 
es, leaves, flowers, and fruit. Infe&s not only injure the 
fubftance of plants, but, by feeding on their juices, deprive 
them of a part of their nourifhment, and occafion various dif- 
eafes or changes in their organization. Other difeafes of 
plants derive their origin from change of climate, from rniaf- 
mata or noxious vapours in the atmofphere, and from im- 
proper culture. When wounded by external injuries, vege- 
tables difcharge their blood in copious ftreams. If the wound 
be not mortal, the fibres on all fides gradually fhoot out and 
clofe the fracture by a callous fubftance. 

From this general enumeration, it is obvious, that the 
difeafes of plants are not only fimilar to thofe of animals, 
but proceed from the fame caufes. In both kingdoms, fome 
difeafes are only partial or fuperficial, and are cured either 
by Nature, or by the afliftance of art. Others are mortal, 
and fucceeded by a total putrefaction or decompofition of 
the individual. 

But, though plants fhould efcape the numberlefs difeafes 
which daily threaten them, they have no defence againft the 
flower approaches of old age, and its unavoidable confequence, 
death. In progrefs of time, the veffels gradually harden 
and lofe their tone. The juices no longer move with equal 
celerity as in youth. They are not abforbed with the fame 
precifion. They at lad ftagnate and corrupt. This corrup- 
tion is foon communicated to the veiTels in which the juices 
are contained, and produces a total ceftation of all the vital 
functions. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 53 

The life of animals is diveriified by a number of fucceffive 
changes. Infancy, youth, manhood, old age, are character- 
ifed by imbecility, beauty, fertility, dotage. All thefe vicif- 
fitudes are confpicuous in the vegetable world. Weak and 
tender in infancy, beautiful and vigorous in youth, robuft 
and fruitful in manhood, and, when old age approaches, the 
head droops, the fprings of life dry up, and the tottering 
vegetable, like the animal, returns to that duft from which 
it fprung. 

Upon the whole, by taking a retrofped*Hve view of the ex- 
treme difficulty of afcertaining the boundaries which diftin- 
guifh the animal from the vegetable, and of the fimilarities 
in their ftrudhire and organs, in their growth and nourifh- 
ment, in their dhTemination and decay, it is apparent, that 
both thefe kingdoms conftitute the fame order of beings, and 
that Nature, in the formation of them, has operated upon 
one great and common model. 



54* THE PHILOSOPHY 



CHAPTER II. 



Of the organs and general JlruEiure of Animals — AJhort view of 
the external and internal parts of the human body — This Jlruc- 
ture compared with thofe of Quadrupeds, Birds, Fi/Jjes, and In- 
fetls — How far peculiarities of JlruEiure are connecled with 
peculiarities of manners and dijpoftions. 

IN treating of this fubject, it is not intended to 
dive into the depths of anatomical refearch. On the con- 
trary, I fhall exhibit fhort views only of the general ftruc- 
ture and organization of the various claffes of animated 
beings, from man, who is the mod perfect animal of which 
we have any knowledge, down to the infect tribes. Con- 
sidering man, therefore, as the ftandard of animal perfection,' 
we fhall inftitute frequent comparifons, and mark peculiar 
distinctions between him and the brute creation, both with re- 
gard to form, manners and fagacity. By following this plan, 
I hope I fhall be enabled to render a fubject which at firft 
fight, may have a forbidding afpect, both interefting and a- 
greeable. 

STRUCTURE OF MAN. 
The bones may be regarded as the bafis upon which the 
human body is constructed. The fpine, or back-bone, con- 
fifts of a number of vertebrae, or fmall bones, connected to- 
gether by cartilages, articulations, and ligaments. In the 
centre of each vertebrae there is a foreman, or a hole, for the 
lodgement and continuation of the fpinal marrow, which ex- 
tends from the brain to the rump. From thefe vertebrae 
the arched bones called ribs proceed ; and feven of them 
join the breaft-bone on each fide, where they terminate in 
cartilages, and form the cavity of the thorax, or cheft. This 
cavity contains the heart and lungs ; and the oefophagus, or 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 55 

gullet, pafTes through it to reach the ftomach. The five lower 
ribs, with a number of mufcles, form another cavity termed 
the abdomen, or belly, in which are contained the ftomach, 
the bowels, the omentum, or cawl, the liver, the gall-bladder, 
the fpleen, the pancreas, and the kidneys. The cheft and 
abdomen are feparated from each other by the diaphragm, or 
midriff. The lower part of this laft cavity contains the 
bladder of urine, and the rectum, or termination of the in- 
teftines. Befide thefe, in females, the pelvis includes the 
uterus and its appendages. This part of the cavity is form- 
ed by the os facrum, or termination of the back -bone, and 
the two ofFa innominata. 

The bones of the cranium and face are very numerous. 
They are connected together by means of futures, articula- 
tions, and membranes. The bones of the cranium include 
the brain and its two membranous coverings, called the pia 
and dura mater, and the medulla oblongata, of which laft the 
fpinal marrow is a prolongation. The bones of the upper 
and under jaw form another cavity for the reception of the 
tongue and organs of fpeech. 

The only remaining bones are thofe of the upper and 
lower extremities. The fhoulder and collar bones articulate 
with the top of the arm and the breaft-bone. The arm-bone, 
or os humeri, is joined to the two bones of the fore-arm, call- 
ed ulna and radius, and thefe laft to the bones of the carpus, 
or wrift, by means of articulations and firm membranes. To 
the bones of the wrift, thofe of the metacarpus and fingers 
are attached in a fimilar manner. 

With regard to the lower extremities, the thigh-bone ar- 
ticulates above with the hip-bone, and below with the leg- 
bone and the rotula, or knee-pan. The leg, like the fore- 
arm, is compofed of two bones, the tibia and fibula, which 
articulate with each other, and with the tarfal, or heel-bones 
of the foot ; and to thefe laft the metatarfal bones, and thofe 
of the toes, are joined. 



56 THE PHILOSOPHY 

From this outline, fome idea may be formed of the human 
fkeleton. The other parts of which our bodies are compof- 
ed fhall be mentioned in the fame curfory manner. 

The mufcular part of the human fabric confifts of numer- 
ous bundles of flefhy fibres. Each bundle or diftinct mufcle, 
is inclofed in a cellular membrane, by which means they 
may be raifed, or feparated from one another by the hand 
of the anatomift. They are inferted, by ftrong tendinous ex- 
tremities, into the different bones of which the fkeleton is 
compofed, and, by their contraction and diftenfion, give rife 
to all the movements of the body. The mufcles, therefore, 
may be confidered as fo many cords attached to the bones ; 
and Nature has fixed them according to the moft perfect 
principles of mechanifm, fo as to produce the htteft motions 
in the bones or parts for the movement of which they are 
intended. 

The heart is a hollow mufcular organ of a conical fhape, 
and confifts of four diftinct cavities. The two largeft are 
calied ventricles, and the two fmalleft auricles. The heart is 
inclofed in the pericardium, a membranous bag, which like- 
wife contains a quantity of water, or lymph. This water lu- 
bricates the heart, and facilitates all its motions. The heart 
is the general refervoir of the blood. By the contractions 
and dilations of this mufcle, the blood is alternately thrown 
out of, and received into, its feveral cavities. When the 
heart contracts, the blood is propelled from the right ventri- 
cle into the lungs through the pulmonary arteries, which, 
like all the other arteries, are furnifhed with valves that play 
eafily forward, but admit not the blood to regurgitate toward 
the heart. The blood, after circulating through the lungs, 
returns into the left ventricle of the heart by the pulmonary 
vein. At the fame inftant, the left ventricle drives the blood 
into the aorta, a large artery which fends off branches to 
fupply the head and arms. Another large branch of the 



OF NATURAL HJSTORY. 57 

aorta defcends along the infide of the back-bone, and detach- 
es numerous ramifications to nourifh the vifcera and inferior 
extremities. After ferving the moft remote extremities of 
the body, the arteries are converted into veins, which, in 
their return toward the heart, gradually unite into larger 
branches, till the whole terminate in one great trunk called 
the vena cava, which difcharges itfelf into tfye right ventricle 
of the heart, and completes the circulation. 

Befide the heart, the thorax or cheft contains the lungs, 
or organs of refpiration. They are divided into live lobes, 
three of which lie on the right, and two on the left fide of 
the thorax. The fubftance of the lungs is chiefly compofed 
of infinite ramifications of the trachea or windpipe, which, 
after gradually becoming more and more minute, terminate 
in little cells or veficles, which have a free communication 
with one another. At each infpiration, thefe pipes and cells 
are filled with air, which is again difcharged by refpiration. 
In this manner, a circulation of air, which is necerTary to the 
exiflence of men and other animals, is conftantly kept up as 
long as life remains. 

The inftruments and procefs of digeftion fall next to be 
confidered. The ftomach is a membranous and mufcular 
bag furnifhed with two orifices : By the one it has a conn 
munication with the oefophagus, or gullet, and by the other 
with the bowels, which begin at the ftomach and terminate 
at the anus. In the flomach and inteftines there are im- 
menfe numbers of minute vefTels called lacleals, the mouths 
of which are conftantly open for the reception of the nutri- 
tious particles. After being moiftened and lubricated by the 
faiiva, the food is received into the ftomach, where it is ftill 
farther diluted by the gaftric juice, which has the power of 
diflblving every kind of animal and vegetable fubftance. 
When the food has remained fome time in the ftomach, it 
is reduced to a grayifh pulp, mixed with fome chylous or 



BS THE IHILOSOPHY 

milky particles. The thinner and more perfectly digefted 
parts of the food gradually pafs through the pylorus, or lower 
aperture of the ftomach, into the inteftines, where they are 
flill farther attenuated and digefted by the bile and pancrea- 
tic juices. While the food is in this fluid ftate, it receives 
the denomination of chyle, and is continually abforbed by the 
mouths of the la&eal veins. Thefe veflels arife, like net- 
work, from the inner fervice of the inteftines, pafs obliquely 
through their coats, and, running along the mefentery, unite, 
as they advance, into larger branches, and at laft terminate 
in the thoracic duel, or general receptacle of the chyle. Be- 
fide the lacteals, there is another fyftem of veflels called 
lymphatic, or abforbent veins : They are minute pellucid 
tubes, and generally lie clofe to the large blood-veflels. The 
lymphatics from all the lower parts of the body gradually 
unite as they approach the thoracic duct, into which they 
pour a colourlefs fluid by three or four large trunks ; and 
the lymphatics from all the fuperior parts of the body like- 
wife difcharge their lymph into the fame duel as it runs up- 
ward to terminate in the left fubclavian vein. By this cu- 
rious and beautiful machinery, the chyle and lymph, which 
confift of the nutritious matters extracted from the food, 
enter the circulating fyftem, are converted into blood, and 
afford that conftant fupply of nourifhment which the per- 
petual wafte of our bodies demands. 

We fhall next give a fketch of thofe important organs by 
which we are enabled to multiply and continue the fpecies. 
The circulation of the blood, and the mode by which the 
quantity of it is continually kept up by frefh fupplies of 
chyle, are effects which, in fome meafure, correfpond with 
our ideas of the machinery employed. The organs of gener- 
ation exhibit a flill more complex fpecimen of exquifite 
mechanifm. But the machinery employed, without the aid 
of experience, could never fugged the moft diftant idea of 
the effect to be produced. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 59 

In the male, the organs of generation confift of the teftes, 
the feminal veffels, and the penis. The teftes are two glan- 
dular bodies which poffefs the power of converting the blood 
into femen. They are originally formed and lodged in the 
abdomen ; and it is not till after birth that they commonly 
pafs into the groin, and from thence fall into the fcrotum, 
which is a mufcular bag prepared for their reception and 
defence. The teftes of the hedgehog and of fome other 
quadrupeds remain in the abdomen during life. Inftances 
of the fame kind fometimes happen in the human fpecies. 
Each tefticle is compofed of the fpermatic artery and vein. 
The blood pafTes very flowly through the fpermatic artery, 
and produces an infinite number of convolutions in the fub- 
ftance of the tefticle, where it depofits the femen, which is 
taken up by the femeniferous tubes. Thefe tubes at length 
unite, and, by an immenfe number of circumvolutions, form 
a kind of appendix to the tefticle, commonly known by the 
term epidydymis. The tubes of the epidydymis, after termi- 
nating in an excretory duct called vas deferens, afcend toward 
the abdominal rings, and depofit the femen in the feminal 
veficles, which are two foft convoluted bodies fituated be- 
tween the rectum and bladder, and unite at their lower ex- 
tremity : From thefe refervoirs the femen is occafionally 
difcharged through the fhort canals which open into the 
urethra. The penis is a cavernous and fpungy fubftance 
perforated longitudinally by a canal called urethra, which, by 
communicating with the bladder and feminal veffels, anfwers 
the double purpofe of difcharging both the urine and 
femen. 

"With regard to the female organs, the uterus and its ap- 
pendages merit a principal attention. The uterus is a hol- 
low mufcular body fituated between the rectum and bladder, 
and, when not in an impregnated ftate, refembles a pear, 
with the thickeft end turned toward the abdomen. The en- 



60 THE PHILOSOPHY 

traace into the cavity of the uterus forms a fmall protuber- 
ance, which has been compared to the mouth of a tench, and 
from this circumftance it has received the name of os t'mcae. 
The uterus is connected to the fides of the pelvis by two 
broad ligaments, which fupport it in the vagina in a pendu- 
lous fituation. From each fide of the bottom of the uterus 
the two Fallopian tubes arife, pafs through the fubftance of 
the uterus, and extend along the broad ligaments till they 
reach the edge of the pelvis \ from whence they are reflect- 
ed backward, and turning over behind the ligaments, their 
extremities hang loofe in the pelvis. Thefe extremities, be- 
caufe they have a ragged appearance, are called fimbriae^ or 
morfus diaboli : Each Fallopian tube is about three inches 
long. Their cavities are at firft very fmall, but become gra- 
dually larger, like a trumpet, as they approach the fimbriae. 
Near the fimbriae of each tube, about an inch from the uter- 
us, are fituated the ovaria, or two oval bodies, about half the 
fize of the male tefticle. They are covered with a produc- 
tion of the peritoneum, and hang loofe in the pelvis. In 
their fubftance there are feveral minute veficles filled with 
lymph. The number of thefe veficles feldom exceeds 
twelve in each ovarium. In mature females, thefe veficles 
become exceedingly turgid ; and a yellow coagulum gradual- 
ly forms in one of them, which increases till its coat difap- 
pears. It then changes into a hemifpherical body called ror- 
pus luteum, which is defcribed as being hollow and containing 
within its cavity very minute eggs, each of which, it is fup- 
pofed, may be impregnated, and produce a foetus. After 
impregnation, one of thefe eggs, as we are informed by anat- 
omifts, is abforbed by and pafTes through the Fallopian tube 
into the uterus, where it is nourifhed till mature for birth. 

We fhall conclude this fubject with a concife account of 
the inftruments of fenfation. The organs hitherto defcribed 
convey nothing more than the idea of an automaton, or /elf- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 61 

moving machine. But fenfation, or the perception of plea- 
lure and pain, is effected by organs of a peculiar kind. Thefe 
organs are all comprehended under the general appellation of 
the brain and nerves, 

Befide the bones of the cranium, the brain is inverted with 
two membranes, called dura and pia mater, becaufe they were 
fuppofed by the Arabians to be the lource of all the other 
membranes of the body. Under the denomination of brain 
are comprehended three diftinct parts, the cerebrum, the cere- 
helium, and medulla oblongata. The cerebrum is a foft medul- 
lary mafs, fituated in the anterior part of the fkull, and divid- 
ed, by a portion of the dura mater, into two hemifpheres. It 
confifts of two fubftances, the cortical, which is greyifh, and 
the medullary, which is fofter, and of a very white colour. 
The cerebellum is divided into two lobes, and its fubftance is 
firmer and more compact than that of the cerebrum. It is 
likewife compofed of the cortical and medullary fubftances. 
The reunion of the medullary fubftances of the cerebrum 
and cerebellum, at the bafis of the fkull, forms the medulla 
oblongata, of which the fpinal marrow is a continuation. The 
brain of the human fpecies is proportionally much larger 
than that of quadrupeds. 

The brain and fpinal marrow are fuppofed to be the origin 
of all the nerves or inftruments of fenfation. The nerves 
are, in general, cineritious, fhining, inelaftic cords. But 
they differ from each other in iize, colour, and confiftence. 
From numberlefs experiments and obfervations, it is unquef- 
tionable, that the nerves are the inftruments both of fenfa- 
tion and of animal motion. But, how thefe effects are pro- 
duced by the nervous influence is a difcovery ftill to be made. 
The inquiry, however, has given rife to feveral ingenious 
conjectures and hypothefes. Some phyfiologifts have main- 
tained, that the nerves are folid cords, which may be divided 
into an infinite number of minute filaments j and that, by 

H 



62 THE PHILOSOPHY 

the vibrations of thefe cords, the various impreffions and 
modifications of feeling are conveyed to the brain. Others, 
with more plaufibility, have fuppofed, that the nerves are 
afTemblages of fmall tubes ; that a fubtile fluid, fometimes 
called animal fpir its, is feereted in the brain and fpinal mar- 
row •, and that by the influence or motions of this fluid all 
the* fenfations of animals are tranfmitted to the fenforium, 
or general repofitory of ideas. But it is needlefs to dwell 
upon a fubject covered with darknefs, and which all the 
efforts of human powers will probably never bring to light. 

Anatomifts have defcribed forty pair of nerves. Ten of 
them proceed from the medulla oblongata of the brain, and 
thirty from the fpinal marrow. Thefe nerves, by fending 
off innumerable ramifications, are diftributed, like a net- 
work, over every part of the body, till they terminate, in the 
form of a minute papillae, upon the Ikin. That the nerves 
are the immediate inftruments of fenfation, as well as of muf- 
cular motion, has been prcfved by a thoufand uncontro- 
vertible experiments. When the trunk of the fciatic nerve 
is cut, the thigh and leg on that fide inftantly lofe all motion, 
and all fenfe of pain, below the incifion, and neither time 
nor art can ever reftore the power of feeling or of moving. 
But the parts between the incifion and the fpinal marrow, 
which is a continuation of the brain, retain their ufiial de- 
grees both of motion and of fenfation. From this experi- 
ment, it is evident, that the nerves are the organs by which 
fenfation and motion are effected, and that, for thefe im- 
portant purpofes, an uninterrupted connection between any- 
particular nerve and the brain, or fpinal marrow, is indif- 
penfible. 

This fketch of the human fabric requires an apology to 
anatomical readers, who muft be fenfible of its many imper- 
fections. To perfons who have not ftudied that curious and 
afeful fcience, I imagined a general view of the ftrutture of 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 6$ 

man, if properly compofed, might enable them to acquire 
more diftinct ideas of the many feeming deviations from th« 
common plan obferved by Nature in the formation of the in- 
ferior and more imperfect animals. 

OF THE STRUCTURE OF QUADRUPEDS. 

Having delineated the ftructure and organs of the human 
fpecies, it is worthy of remark, that the intellect, or fagacity, 
of inferior animals augments or diminifties in proportion as 
the formation of their bodies approaches to, or recedes from, 
that of man. Quadrupeds, accordingly, are more intelligent 
than birds ; the fagacity of birds exceeds that of fifties ; and 
the dexterity and cunning of fifties are fuperior to thofe of 
moft of the infe£t tribes. The fame gradation of mental pow- 
ers is exhibited in different fpecies of the fame clafles of ani- 
mals. The form of the ourang outang makes the neareft 
approach to the human ; and the arts he employs for his de- 
fence, the actions he performs, and the fagacity he difcovers, 
are fo aftoniftiing, that fome philofophers have confidered 
him as a real human being in the moft debafed ftage of fo- 
ciety. Next to the ourang outang, the organs of the differ- 
ent fpecies of apes and monkeys have the greateft refem- 
blance to thofe of man ; and their powers of imitation, their 
addrefs in procuring their food, and in managing their 
young, their ingenuity, and their fagacious manners, have 
contributed to the amufement, and excited the admiration of 
mankind in all ages and nations. The fame relation be- 
tween form and intellect may be traced in the dog, the cat, 
the fow, the horfe, the flieep, and the other fpecies of 
quadrupeds. 

With regard to the general ftructure and figure of quad- 
rupeds, a great variety is exhibited in the different kinds. 
But when examined in detail, it is apparent, that they, as 
well as man, are all formed upon one primitive and general. 



6b THE PHILOSOPHY 

defign. Befide the organs of ienfation, of circulation, of di- 
geftion, and of generation, without which moft animals could 
neither fubfift nor multiply, there is, even among thofe parts 
that chiefly contribute to variety in external form, fuch a 
wonderful refemblance as necelTarily conveys the idea of an 
original plan upon which the whole has been executed. For 
example, when the parts conftituting a horfe are compared 
with the human frame, inftead of being (truck with their 
difference., we are afton-iHied at their lingular and almoft 
perfect refemblance. Take the fkeleton of a man, fays Euf- 
fon, incline the bones of the pelvis ; fhcrten thofe of the 
tihighs, legs, and arms ; join the phalanges of the fingers and 
toes ; lc?fTthen the jaws by fhortening the frontal bones ; and, 
laftly, extend the fpjne of the back. This fkeleton would 
no longer reprefent that of a man -, It would be the fkele- 
ton of a horfe, For, by lengthening the back-bone and the 
ja\vs > the number of the vertebrae, ribs, and teeth, would be 
increafed ; and it is only by the number of thefe bones, and 
by the prolongation, contraction, and junction of others, that 
the.fkeleton of a horfe differs from that of a man. The ribs, 
which are efTential to the figure of animals,arefound equally in 
man, in quadrupeds, in birds, in fifhes, and even in the tur- 
tle. The foot of the horfe, fo apparently different from the 
hand of a man, is compofed of fimilar bones ; and, at the 
extremity of each finger, we have the fame fmall bone, re- 
fembiing the fhoe of a horfe, which bounds the foot of that 
animal. Raife the fkeletons of quadrupeds, from the ape-kind 
to the moufe, upon their hind-legs, and compare them with 
the fkeleton of a man, the mind will be inftantly ftruck 
with the uniformity of ftructure and defign obferved in the 
formation of the whole group. This uniformity is fo con- 
ftant, and the gradations from one fpecies to another are fo 
imperceptible, that to difcover the marks of their difcrimina- 
tion requires the moft minute attention. Even the bones of 
the tail will make but a flight impreffion on the obferyer. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 65 

The tail is only a prolongation of the os coccygis y or rump- 
bone, which is fhort in man. The orang outang, and true 
apes, have no tail ; and, in the baboons, and feveral ether 
quadrupeds, the tail is exceedingly fhort. Thus, in the 
creation of animals, the Supreme Being feems to have em- 
ployed only one great idea, and, at the fame time, to have di- 
versified it in every poflible manner, that men might have 
an opportunity of admiring equally the magnificence of the 
execution and the Simplicity of the defign. 

In quadrupeds, as well as in man, the bones are connected 
by articulations and membranes ; and the different move- 
ments of thefe bones are performed by the operation of muf- 
cles. The number, difpofition, and form of the mufcles with 
a few exceptions arifing from the figure and destination of 
parts peculiar to particular animals, are nearly the fame in 
men and in quadrupeds. The circulation of their blood, 
the fecretion of their fluids, and the procefs of digeftion, are 
carried on by organs perfectly iimilar to thofe of the human 
body. In the external covering, a fmall difference takes 
place. Quadrupeds are furnifhed with a thick covering of 
hair, or wool, to defend them from the injuries of the 
weather. Being deflitute of art fufiicient to make garments. 
Nature has Supplied that defect, by giving them a coat of 
hair, which varies in thicknefs according to the feafon of the 
year and the difference of climate. In RuSHa, Lapland, 
Kamtfchatka, and all the northern regions, the furs of ani- 
mals are very thick and warm. But, in Turkey, Africa, and 
the fouthern parts of Afia and America, moft quadrupeds are 
thinly clad, and fome of them, as the Turkifh dog, are total- 
ly deftitute of hair. 

The fkin of quadrupeds is difpofed nearly in the fame man- 
ner as the human, only it is more elaftic. Immediately un- 
der the fkin, there is a thin mufcular fubftance, called/^/?/- 
fulfti carnofus, which is common to all quadrupeds, except the 



(66 THE PHILOSOPHY 

hog and armadillo kinds. This fubftance, which is peculiar 
to quadrupeds, chiefly covers the trunk, and, by fuddenly 
fhaking and fhrivelling the fkin, enables thefe animals to 
drive off infects, or other offenfive bodies. 

The fubftance of the nerves, or organs of fenfation, is the 
fame in the quadruped and in man. They originate from 
the brain and fpinal marrow, and are diftributed over all the 
internal and external parts of the body, in the fame manner 
as in the human frame. 

Thus it appears, that, in general ftructure and organiza- 
tion, the brute creation is nearly allied to the human fpecies. 
Some differences, however, merit attention ; becaufe a flight 
variation in ftructure, eipecially of the internal organs, is 
often accompanied with great diverfities in difpofitions, food, 
and manners. 

Some animals feed upon flefh, others upon vegetables, and 
others upon a mixture of both. The difpofitions of fome 
fpecies are fierce j and their manners convey to us the ideas 
of cruelty and of barbarifm ; the difpofitions and manners of 
other fpecies are foft and placid, and excite in us ideas of 
mildnefs, complacency, and innocence. The ferocity of the 
tyger and hyaena forms a perfect contraft to the gentlenefs 
and inoffenfive behaviour of the fheep and the ox. This 
oppofition of manners has given rife to the diftindtion 
of animals into rapacious and mild, carnivorous and herbivo- 
rous. In the ftructure of thefe animals, whofe characters 
are fo oppofite, fome differences have been difcovered, which 
indicate the intentions of Nature in forming them, and fully 
juftify the feeming cruelty of their conduct. 

In all the carnivorous tribes, the ftomach is proportionally 
finaller, and the inteftines fhorter, than in thofe animals 
which feed upon vegetables. As animals of the former kind 
live folely on flelh, the fhortnefs and narrownefs of their in- 
teftines are accommodated to the nature of their food. Am> 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 67 

ttial food is more eafily reduced to chyle, and becomes fooner 
putrid, than vegetable. Of courfe, if its juices were allow- 
ed to remain long in the inteftines, inftead of nourifhing the 
body, they would produce the moft fatal diitempers. Be- 
fide this accommodation of the inteftines to the nature of their 
food, carnivorous animals are furnifhed with the neceffary 
inftruments for feizing and devouring their prey. Their 
heads are roundifh, their jaws ftrong, and their tulles very 
long and fharp. Some of them, as the lion, the tyger, and 
the whole cat-kind, are provided with long retractile claws. 
Thus both the internal and external ftructure of this clafs of 
animals indicate their deftination and manners. The rapid 
digeftion of their food is a confequence of the ftrength and 
fhortnefs of their inteftines j and the intolerable cravings of 
their appetite neceffarily create a fiercenefs and rapacity of 
difpoiition. Nothing lefs than blood can fatiate them. Their 
cruelty, and the devaftation they make among the weaker 
and more timid tribes, are effects refulting folely from the 
ftructure and organs with which Nature has thought proper 
to endow them. Hence, if there be any thing reprehenfible 
in the manners and difpofltions of carnivorous animals, Na- 
ture alone is to blame ; for all their actions are determined 
by the irrefiftible impulfes of their organization. But, even 
in this feemingly cruel arrangement, Nature muft not be ralh- 
ly accufed. When wecometo treat of the hoftilities of animals, 
I hope tobeable to fhow, thatNature, inthe formation of rapa- 
cious creatures, has acted with her ufual wifdom, and that 
beings of this kind have their ufes in the general fyftem and 
oeconomy of the univerfe. 

As to the herbivorous tribes, or thofe animals which feed upon 
grain and herbage, a flight variation of organs produces the 
greateft effects upon their difpofition and manners. The in- 
teftines of this tribe are very long, capacious, and convoluted. 
Vegetable food, efpecially herbage, contains a fmaller quan- 



6$ THE PHILOSOPHY 

tity of nutritive matter than the flefh of animals ; neither is 
it fo eafily reduced to chyle. A large quantity, therefore, 
as well as a longer detention in the ftomach and inteftines, 
is neceflfary for the nourifhment of thefe creatures. Several 
quadrupeds comprehended under this order ruminate or 
chew the cud. Thefe are furnifhed with no lefs than four 
flomachs. The food after maftication, is thrown into the 
firft ftomach, where it remains fome time ; after which, the 
animal forces it up again into the mouth, and gives it a fec- 
ond chewing. It is then fent directly into the fecond fto- 
mach, and gradually pafTes into the third and fourth ; and, 
laftly, it is tranfmitted through the convolutions of the in- 
teftines, and the dregs, or faeces, are thrown out of the body. 
By this machinery, herbivorous animals are enabled to de- 
vour large quantities of vegetable aliment, to retain it long in 
their bowels, and confequently to extract from it nutritive 
matter fufficient for their growth, fupport, and multiplica- 
tion. Here the quantity compenfates the quality of the nu- 
triment. 

It is true, that the horfe, the afs, the hare, and fome other 
animals which live upon herbage and grain, have only one 
ftomach. But, though the horfe and afs have one ftomach 
only, their inteftines are furnifhed with facs or pouches fo 
large, that they may be compared to the paunch of ruminat- 
ing animals ; and hares, rabbits, the Guiney-pig, &c. have 
blind guts fo long and capacious, that they are equivalent to 
a fecond ftomach. The hedgehog, the wild boar, the fquir- 
rel, &c. whofe ftomach and inteftines are of a mean capacity, 
eat little herbage, but live chiefly upon feeds, fruits, and 
roots, which contain, in fmall bounds, a greater quantity of 
nutritive matter than the leaves or ftems of plants. 

The external form of herbivorous animals, like that of the 
rapacious, is accommodated to their difpofitions and the oe- 
conomy they are obliged to obferve. That they might be 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 69 

•each the furface of the earth with eafe, the legs 
of the larger kinds are proportionally fhort •, their head and 
neck long ; and the mufcles and tendons of the neck are en- 
dowed with prodigious ftrength. Without thefe peculiari- 
ties of ftru&ure, they could not fupport the prone pofture of 
the head in the tedious operation of browfing large quantities 
of herbage. The arrangement and form of their teeth like- 
wife indicate the deftination of the ruminating tribes. They 
have no cutting teeth in the upper jaw ; and they are totally 
deprived of tufks, or canine teeth. This laft circumftance, 
joined to their want of claws, fhews that they are not intend- 
ed to prey upon other animals. Horns are the only weapons 
of defence with which they are provided. From the nature 
of their food, therefore, and the internal and external con- 
figuration of their bodies, it is evident, that animals of this 
defcription mufr. be humble in their deportment and mild in 
their difpoiition. This order of animals, accordingly, have 
uniformly been celebrated for gentlenefs of manners, fub- 
miffion, and timidity. Man has availed himfelf of thofe dif- 
pofitions, by reducing almoft the whole of this tribe to a do- 
meftk ftate. But, in all this gracioumefs of afpect and tracta- 
bility of temper, the animals themfelves have no merit. 
Their motions and actions are neceffary refults of the organs 
which Nature has befcowed on them. It is obvious, there- 
fore, that the diversity of taftes and difpofitions exhibited by 
different animals, arifes not folely from any fuperior agreea- 
blenefs of particular kinds of foodto their palates, or to a pe- 
culiar bias of their minds to benevolence and peace, but from 
a phyficalcaufe depending on the ftruc~ture of their bodies. 

From what has been advanced, it follows, that man, whofe 
ftomach and interlines are proportionally of no great capaci- 
ty, Could not live upon herbage alone. It is an inconteftible 
fact, however, that he can live tolerably well upon bread, 
herbs, and the fruits, roots, and feeds of plants ; for we know 

I 



TO THE PHILOSOPHY 

whole nations, as well as particular orders of men, who are 
prohibited by their religion from eating any animal fubftance. 
But thefe examples are not fufficient to convince us, that the 
health, vigour, and multiplication of mankind would be im- 
proved by feeding folely upon pot-herbs and bread. Be- 
fides, his ftomach and inteftines are of a mean capacity be- 
tween thofe of the carnivorous and herbivorous animals. 
From this circumftance alone we are warranted to conclude, 
that Nature intended him to feed partly on animal and part- 
ly on vegetable fubftances ; and daily experience teaches us, 
that men fed in this manner are larger, ftronger, and more 
prolific, than thofe who are confined to a vegetable diet. If 
man had no other fources of fuperiority over the other ani- 
mals than thofe which originate from the ftructure of his 
body, his difpofitions ought to be a medium between thofe 
of the carnivorous and herbivorous tribes. When confider- 
ed merely as an animal, this appears to be really the cafe. 
Vulgar and uninformed men, when pampered with a variety 
of animal food, are much more choleric, fierce, and cruel in 
their tempers than thofe who live chiefly on vegetables. 
Animal food heats the blood, and makes it circulate with ra- 
pidity. In this fit uation, every object capable of exciting ap- 
petite or paffion operates with redoubled force. The weak 
mind yields to the impulfe, and gives vent to every fpeciesof 
outrage which can debafe human nature. 

In the formation of his body, man has fome advantages 
over particular animals. But thefe advantages are inconfid- 
erable, and none of them, perhaps, are peculiar to the fpecies. 
The ftruclure of all animals is nicely adjufted to their defti- 
nation, and the ftation they occupy in the general fcale of 
Being. The body of man is erect, and his attitude is faid to 
be that of command. His majeftic deportment, and the 
firmnefs of his movements, announce the fuperiority of his 
rank. His arms are not mere pillars for the fupport of his 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 71 

body. His hands tread not the earth ; neither do they iofe, 
by friction and preffure, that exquifite delicacy of feeling for 
which Nature had originally intended them. His arms and 
hands, on the contrary, are formed for purpofes of a more 
noble kind. They are deftined for executing the commands 
of his will, for laying hold of bodies, for removing obftacles, 
for defending him from injuries, and for feizing and retain- 
ing objects of pleafure. The features of this picture are 
exact delineations ; but they are not the exclufive privilege 
of man. The orang outang walks erect, and he derives 
equal advantages from his hands and arms as the human 
fpecies. Some apes have likewife the power of walking 
erect, with the additional faculty of employing their hands 
and arms as legs. They can walk, run, or leap, by the in- 
strumentality either of two or of four extremities, as their 
Situation or neceffities may require. It is not, therefore, 
the fabric of man's body that entitles him to claim a fuperio- 
rity over the other animals. The formation of their bodies 
is adjufted with equal fymmetry and perfection to the rank 
they hold in the general fyftem of animation. Many of 
them excel us in magnitude, Strength, fwiftnefs, and dexteri^ 
ty in particular movements. Their fenfes are often more 
acute \ they feize their prey, or procure herbage, fruits, and 
feeds of trees, with more facility than man, when limited to 
the powers of his animal nature. Hence the great fource of 
man's fuperiority over the brute creation muft be derived 
from his mental faculties alone. Brutes enjoy the fame in- 
ftincts, the fame appetites, and the fame propensities, as ap- 
pear in the conftitution of the human mind. But the in- 
ftincts of brutes, though they are exerted with great certain- 
ty and precifion, are much circumfcribed with regard to ex- 
tenfion and improvement. Like man, they derive advan- 
tages from experience. But the conclufions they draw from 
this fource are always feeble and extremely limited. Neither 



72 THE PHILOSOPHY 

do they poffefs the ineftimable faculty of tranfmitting the 
knowledge acquired by individuals' from generation to gener- 
ation. By means of their fenfes, they learn to diftinguiih 
their enemies, or hurtful objects, at a diftance ; and they 
know how to avoid them. Experience teaches them to dif- 
criminate objects of pleafure from thofe of pain ; and they 
act according to the feelings excited by thefe objects. Some 
animals can even accommodate their inftincts to particular 
circumftances and fituations. The feelings of brutes are 
often more exquifite than ours. They have fenfations ; but 
their faculty of comparing them, or of forming ideas, is 
much circumfcribed. A dog or a monkey can imitate 
fome human actions, and are capable of receiving a certain 
degree of instruction. But their progrefs foon ftops : Na- 
ture has fixed the boundaries of mental as well as of corpo- 
real powers ; and thefe boundaries are as various as the num- 
ber of diftinct fpecies. Our wonder is equally excited by 
the fagacity of fome animals, and by the ftupidity of others. 
This gradation of mental faculties originates from the num- 
ber or paucity of inftincts beftowed on particular fpecies, 
joined to the greater or fmaller power of extending or modi- 
fying thefe inftincts by experience and observation. Man 
is endowed with a greater number of inftincts than any other 
animal. The fuperiority of his rank, however, does not 
proceed from this fource alone. Man enjoys beyond every 
other animal the faculty of extending, improving, and modi- 
fying the different inftincts he has received from Nature. It 
is this faculty which enables him to compare his feelings, to 
form ideas, and to reafon concerning both. The bee makes 
cells, and the beaver conftructs habitations of clay. The 
order of their architecture, however, is invariably the fame. 
Man likewife builds houfes : But he is not forced, by an ir- 
refiftible inftinct, to work always on the fame plan. His 
habitations, on the contrary, vary with the fancy of the in- 
dividuals who defign and conftruct them. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 73 

Upon the whole, the dignity of man's rank depends not 
upon the ftructure of his organs. It is from the powers of 
his intellect alone that he is entitled to claim a fuperiority 
over the brute creation. Thefe powers enable him to form 
ideas, to abftract, to reafon, to invent, and to reach all the 
heights of fcience and of art. 

The remarks formerly made are applicable to quadrupeds 
in general. But, before concluding this branch of the fub~ 
jedt, we fhall point out a few peculiarities in the ftructure of 
particular fpecies. 

Befide the four flomachs common to ruminating animals, 
the camel and dromedary have a fifth bag, which ferves 
them as a refervoir for holding water. This bag is capable 
of containing a very large quantity of that neceffary element. 
When the camel is thirfty, and has occafion to macerate his 
dry food in the operation of ruminating, by a fimple con- 
traction of certain mufcles, he makes part of this water af- 
cend into his ftomach, or even as high as the gullet. This 
lingular construction enables him to travel fix, eight, or even 
twelve days in the fandy deferts, without drinking, and to 
take at once a prodigious quantity of water, which remains 
in the refervoir pure and limpid ; becaufe neither the 
humours of the body, nor the juices that promote digeftion, 
can have accefs to it. Befide this Angularity of ftructure, 
the camel has two large flefhy bunches on his back, and the 
dromedary, or fwift camel, one bunch ; and the feet of 
both are covered with a very tough, but flexible fubftance. 
The conformation of thefe animals enables them to travel 
with heavy loads through the fandy deferts of the Eaft, 
where the horfe or the afs would inevitably perifh ; becaufe 
Nature has not provided them with refervoirs for holding 
and preferving water, which are indilpenfible in countries 
where none of that element can be procured but in particu- 
lar places, that are often diftant many days journey from 



f4> THE PHILOSOPHY 

each other. When we confider the ftructure of the 
camel and dromedary, we cannot be deceived with regard to 
their deftination. The four ftomachs indicate a vegetable 
diet, and the fame docility and gentlenefs of manners which 
characterife the whole ruminating tribes. From the addi- 
tion of a fifth bag, or refervoir for the reception and prefer- 
vation of water, we fhould expect to find fome peculiarity 
of difpofition. In this conjecture we are not deceived. Of 
all animals which man has fubjugated, the camel and drome- 
dary are the moft abject: flaves. "With incredible patience 
and fubmiflion they traverfe the burning fands of Africa and 
Arabia, carrying burdens of amazing weight. Inftead of dis- 
covering fymptoms of reluctance, they fpontaneoufly lie 
down on their knees till their mafter binds the unmerciful 
load. Arabia, and fome parts of Africa, are the drieft and 
moft barren countries in the world. Both the conftitution 
and ftructure of camels are nicely adapted to the foil and 
climate in which they are produced. The Arabians confid- 
er the camel as a gift fent from heaven, a facred animal, 
without whofe affiftance they could neither fubfift, traffick, 
nor travel. The milk of the camel is their common food. 
They alfo eat its flefh 5 and of its hair they make garments. 
In pofiefiion of their camels, the Arabs want nothing, and 
have nothing to fear. In one day they can perform a jour- 
ney of fifty leagues into the defert, which cuts ofF every ap- 
proach from their enemies. All the armies in the world would 
perifh in purfuit of a troop of Arabs. An Arab, by the 
affiftance of his camel, furmounts all the difficulties of a 
country which is neither covered with verdure, nor fupplied 
with water. Notwithftanding the vigilance of his neigh- 
bours, and the fuperiority of their ftrength, he eludes their 
purfuit, and carries off, with impunity, all that he ravages 
from them. When about to undertake a depredatory expe- 
dition, an Arab makes his camels carry both his and their 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 75 

own provisions. When he reaches the confines of the 
defert, he robs the flrft pafTengers who come in his way, pil- 
lages the folitary houfes, loads his camels with the booty, 
and, if purfued, he accelerates his retreat. On thefe occa- 
fions he difplays his own talents as well as thofe of his camels. 
He mounts one of the fleeted, conducts the troop, and oblig- 
es them to travel day and night, without almoft either Hop- 
ping, eating, or drinking ; and, in this manner, he often 
performs a journey of 300 leagues in eight days. 

Another order of quadrupeds deferves our notice. Thofe 
which have been diftinguifhed by the appellation of amphib- 
ious, are capable of remaining a long time under water. 
They live chiefly upon fifhes, and, without this faculty of 
continuing a coniiderable time under water, they would be 
unable to procure their food. To this tribe belong the feal, 
the walrus, the manati, the fea-lion, &c. The feal and wal- 
rus are more nearly allied to land-quadrupeds than to 
the cetaceous animals ; becaufe they have four distinct 
legs, though nothing but the feet project beyond the fkin. 
The toes of the feet are all connected by membranes, which 
enable thefe animals to fwim in queft of their prey. They 
differ from terreftrial quadrupeds by the Angular faculty of 
living with equal eafe either in air or in water. This pecu- 
liarity of economy and manners prefuppofes the neceflity of 
fome deviation from the general ftructure of quadrupeds ; 
and Nature has accomplifhed this purpofe by a very fimple 
artifice. 

In man, and in all land-quadrupeds, the lungs of the foetus 
have no motion, and receive no more blood than is requifite 
for their growth and nourishment. But, immediately after 
birth, the young animals refpire, and the whole mafs of 
blood circulates through their lungs. To carry on the cir- 
culation in the foetus ftate, another pafTage was neceffary. 
The blood in the right auricle of the heart, inftead of paffing 



76 THE PHILOSOPHY 

into the pulmonary artery, and, after circulating through the 
lungs, returning into the left auricle by the pulmonary vein, 
pafTes directly from the right to the left auricle through an 
aperture called the foramen ovale, which is fituated in the 
partition of the Heart that feparates the canities of the two 
auricles. By this contrivance, the mafs of blood, without 
deviating into the lungs, enters the aorta, and is diftributed 
over every part of the body. In man, and the other terref- 
trial animals, the foramen ovale of the heart, which permits 
the foetus to live without refpiration, clofes the moment af- 
ter birth, and remains fhut during life. Animals of this con- 
ftruction can neither live without air, nor remain long under 
water without being fuffocated. 

But, in the feal, walrus, and other amphibious animals, 
the foramen ovale continues open during life, though the 
mothers bring forth on land, and refpiration commences 
immediately after birth. By means of this perpetual aper- 
ture in the feptum or partition oT the heart, which allows a 
direct communication of the blood from the vena cava to the 
aorta,thefe animals enjoy the privilege of refpiring, or not, at 
their pleafure. 

This Angularity in the ftruc"ture of the heart, and the 
confequent capacity of living equally on land and in water, 
muft necefTarily produce fome peculiarities in the manners 
and difpofitions of amphibious animals. The feal, accord- 
ingly, whofe hiftory is bed; known, may be confidered as 
holding the empire of the filent ocean. To this dignity he 
is entitled by his voice, his figure, and his intelligence, which 
render him fo fuperior to the fifties, that they feem to belong 
to another order of beings. Though his oeconomy be very 
different from that of our domeftic animals, he is fufcepti- 
ble of a fpecies of education. He is reared by putting him 
frequently in water. He is taught to give a falute with his 
head and his voice. He approaches when called upon. His 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 77 

fenfes are equally acute as thofe of any quadruped ; and, of 
courfe, his fenfations and intellect are equally active. Both 
are exhibited in the gentlenefs of his manners, his focial dii- 
pofition, his affection for the female, his anxious attention 
to his offspring, and the expreifive modulation of his voice. 
Befides, he enjoys advantages which are peculiar to him. He 
is neither afraid of cold nor of heat. He lives indifferently 
on herbs, flefh, or fifh. He inhabits, without inconvenience, 
Water, land, or ice. When affiftance is neceffary, the feals 
underftand and mutually affift one another. The young 
cliftinguiih their mother in the midft of a numerous troop. 
They know her voice ; and, when flie calls, they never fail 
to obey. 

Before difmiffing this branch of the fabject, the elephant 
mull not be pafied over in Hience. His ftrucrure is uncom- 
mon, and fo are his talents. The elephant is the largefl and 
mofi: magnificent animal that at prefent treads the earth. 
Though he daily devours great quantities of herbage, leaves, 
anabranches of trees, he has but one itomach, and does not 
ruminate. This want, however, is fupplied by the magni- 
tude and length of his inteftines, and particularly of the co- 
lon, which is two or three feet in diameter by fifteen or 
twenty in length. In proportion to the fize of the elephant, 
his eyes are very fmall ; but they are lively, brilliant, and ca- 
pable of a pathetic exprefiion of fentiment. He turns them 
flowly, and with mildnefs, towards his mailer. When he 
fpeaks, the animal regards him with an eye of friendmip and 
attention. He feems to reflect with deliberation, and never 
determines till he has examined* without paffion or precipita- 
tion, the orders which he is defired to obey. The dog, 
whofe eyes are very expreflive, is too prompt and vivacious 
to allow us to diftinguifh with eafe the fucceffive {hades of 
his fenfations. But, as the elephant is naturally grave and 
moderate, we perceive in his eyes the order and fucceflion of 

K 



78 THE PHILOSOPHY 

his thoughts. His ears are very large, and much longer, 
even in proportion to his body, than thofe of the afs. They 
lie flat on the head, and are commonly pendulous ; but he 
can raife and move them with fuch facility, that he ufes 
them as a fan to cool himfelf, and to defend his eyes from 
duft and infers. His ear is likewife remarkably fine ; for 
he delights in the found of mufical inftruments, and moves 
in cadence to the trumpet and tabour. 

But, in the ftructure of the elephant, the moft fingular 
organ is his trunk or probofcis. It is compofed of mem- 
branes, nerves, and mufcles ; and it is at once an inftrument 
of feeling and of motion. The animal can not only move and 
bend the trunk, but he can contract, lengthen, and turn it on 
all fides. The extremity of the trunk terminates in a pro- 
tuberance that ftretches out on the u pper fide in the form of 
a finger j by means of which he lifts from the ground the 
fmalleft pieces of money ; he felects herbs and flowers, and 
picks them up one by one ; he unties the knots of ropes, 
opens and fhuts gates by turning the keys or pufhing back 
the bolts. In the middle of the protuberance or finger, 
there is a cavity in the form of a cup, and, in the bottom of 
the cup are the apertures of the two organs of fmelling and 
refpiration. This hand of the elephant poflefTes feveral ad- 
vantages over that of the human. It is more flexible, and 
equally dexterous in laying hold of objects. Befides, he has his 
nofe in his hand, and is enabled to combine the power of his 
lungs with the action of his finger, and to attract fluids by a 
ftrong fuction, or to raife heavy bodies by applying to them 
the edge of his trunk, and making a vacuum within by a 
vigorous infpiration. Hence delicacy of feeling, acutenefs 
of fmelling, facility of movement, and the power of fuction, 
are united at the extremity of the elephant's trunk. Of all 
the inftruments which Nature has beftowed on her moft 
favourite productions, the trunk of the elephant feems to be 



OF NATURAL HISTORt. tV 

the moft complete, as well as the moft admirable. It is not 
only an organic inftrument, but a triple fenfe, whofe united 
functions exhibit the effects of that wonderful fagacity which 
exalts the elephant above all ether quadrupeds. Ke is net 
fo fubject, as fome other animals, to errors of vifion ; be- 
caufe he quickly rectifies them by the fenfe of touch ; and, 
by ufing his trunk as a long arm, for the purpofe of touch- 
ing remote objects, he acquires, like man, clear ideas of dis- 
tances. But other animals, except fuch as have a kind of 
arms and hands, can only acquire ideas of diftances by trav- 
ersing fpace with their bodies. Delicacy of feeling, the flexi- 
bility of the trunk, the power of faction, the fenfe of fmel- 
ling, and the length of the arm, convey ideas of the fub- 
ftance of bodies, of their external form, of their weight, of 
their falutary or noxions qualities, and of their diftances. 
Thus, by the fame organs, and by a iimultaneous act, the ele- 
phant feels, perceives, and judges of feveral things at one 
time. It is by virtue of this combination of fenfes and 
faculties in the trunk that the elephant is enabled toper- 
form fo many wonderful actions, notwithstanding the enor- 
mity of his mafs and the difproportions of his form. The 
thicknefs and rigidity of his body ; the fhortnefs and ftiff- 
nefs of his neck ; the fmallnefs of his head ; the largenefs 
of his ears, nofe, and tufks ; the minutenefs of his eyes, 
mouth, genitals, and tail ; his ftraight, clumfy, and almoft 
inflexible limbs , the fhortnefs and fmallnefs of his feet \ the 
thicknefs and callofity of his fkin ; all thefe deformities are 
the more obvious and difagreeable, becaufe they are model- 
led on a large fcale, and moft of them are peculiar to the 
elephant. 

From this fingular conformation, the animal is fubjected 
to many inconveniences. He moves his head with difficul- 
ty, and cannot turn back without making a large circuit. 
For this reafon, the hunters attack him behind, or on 



80 THE PHILOSOPHY 

the flanks, and avoid the effects of his rage by circular 
movements. He cannot feize any object on the ground 
with his mouth, becaufe his neck is too fliff to allow his 
head to reach the earth. He is therefore obliged to lay 
hold of his food, and even of his drink, with his nofe, and 
then convey them to his mouth. It is likewife a confe- 
quence of this ftructure, that the young elephants are faid 
to fuck with their nofe, and afterwards pour the milk into 
their gullet. 

OF THE STRUCTURE OF BIRDS. 

From the figure and movements of the feathered tribes, 
we fhould be led to imagine that the ftruc"ture of their 
organs was extremely different from that of quadrupeds. 
Their oeconomy and manner of living required fome varia- 
tions in their frame. But thofe variations are by no means 
fo many or fo great as might be expected. Inftead of hairs, 
their bodies are covered with feathers, which, befide the 
beautiful variety of their colours, protect this clafs of ani- 
mals from the afTaults of rain and cold. They have only a 
couple of legs ; but Nature has furnifhed them with two ad- 
ditional inft rumen ts of motion, by which they are enabled to 
rife from the furface of the earth, and to fly with amazing 
rapidity through the air. The wings are articulated with 
the breaft-bone, and their motions are performed by mufcles 
of remarkable ftrength. Many birds are continually pairing 
through hedges and thickets. To defend their eyes, there- 
fore, from external injuries, as well as from too much light 
when flying in oppofition to the rays of the fun, they are 
furnifhed with a membrane called membra?m niBitans^ which, 
like a curtain, can at pleafure be drawn over the whole eye. 
This covering is neither opaque nor pellucid j but, being 
fomewhat tranfparent, it allows as many rays to enter as ren- 
der any object juft viflble, and enable them to direct their 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. $\ 

prggrefs through the air. It is by the inftrumentality of 
this membrane that the eagle looks at the fun. The feath- 
ers of all birds are inferted into the fkin in fuch a manner 
that they naturally lie backward from the head j and allow 
the rain to run off their bodies, and, by turning their heads 
in oppofition to the wind, prevent the wind from rumpling 
their feathers and retarding their flight. Befide this provi- 
fion, the rump of birds terminates in a large gland, which 
fecretes an oily fubftance. When the feathers are too dry, 
or any way difordered, the animals fqueeze this gland with 
their bills, extract the oil, and with it they befmear and drefs 
the feathers. By this means the ad million of water is total- 
ly prevented. Birds have no feparate ribs ; but the breaft- 
bone, which is very large, joins the back-bone, and fupplies 
their place. 

With regard to the external figure of birds, the form of 
their bodies is nicely adapted to their manners and the mode 
of life they are deftined to purfue. By ftriking the air with 
their wings, they move forward in that element, and their 
tail ferves them as a rudder to direct their courfe. Their 
breaft-bone, inftead of being flat, rifes gradually from the 
fpine and terminates in a fharp ridge or keel, which enables 
them to cut the air with greater facility. For the fame pur- 
pofe, the heads of birds are proportionally fmaller than thofe 
of quadrupeds, and moft of them terminate in light fharp- 
pointed beaks. They are likewife deprived of external ears, 
and of protuberant noftrils. Their tails, inftead of verte- 
brae, mufcles, and fkin, confift entirely of feathers. They 
have no pendulous fcrotum, no bladder, no flefhy uterus. 
Neither have they an epiglottis, though many of them pof- 
fefs great powers of modulation, and fome of them may 
even be taught to articulate words. To lighten their beaksj 
they are deprived of lips and teeth ; and their abdomen or 
belly is proportionally fmall and narrow. 



82 THE PHILOSOPHY 

From this general view of the external figure and (true- 
ture of birds, it is apparent, that Nature has defigned them 
for two diftincl: kinds of motion. They can, at pleafure, 
either walk on the furface of the earth, or mount aloft, and 
penetrate the airy regions with prodigious fwiftnefs. 

Some peculiarities in the internal ftruchire of birds deferve 
our notice. 

Like quadrupeds, the feathered tribes are divided into 
granivorous and carnivorous , and their manners and difpo- 
tions correfpond with their internal and external conformation. 

In the granivorous clafs, the oefophagus or gullet runs 
down the neck, and terminates in a pretty large membranous 
fac, called the ingluvies y or craw, where the food is macerat- 
ed, and partly diflblved by a liquor fecreted from glands 
fpread over the furface of this fac. Some birds, as the 
rooks and the pigeon kind, have the power of bringing -up 
the food from this fac into their mouths, and feeding their 
young with it in a half digefted form. After macerating for 
fome time, the food pafTes through the remainder of the gul- 
let into another fpecies of ftomach denominated ventriculus 
fuccenturiatusy which is a continuation of the gullet. Here 
the food receives a farther dilution. From this fecond 
ftomach, the food is tranfmitted to the gizzard, or true 
ftomach, which confifts of two very ftrong mufcles, covered 
externally with a tendinous fubftance, and lined with a thick 
firm membrane. The remarkable ftrength of the gizzard 
was formerly fuppofed to affift the digeftion of granivorous 
birds by attrition. But this notion has of late been entirely 
•exploded ; for Doctor Stevens, and, after him, Spalanzani, 
have demonftrated, by unequivocal experiments, that digef- 
tion is performed f olely by the diflblving powers of the gaftric 
juices.* The other inteftines are proportionally larger, and 
much longer than thofe of the carnivorous birds. 

See Stevens Differt, Med. Tnaug. De AKaientorum Conco&ione, Edin. 1777, 
and Spalanzani. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 83 

The ftructure of the heart, in granivorous birds, is nearly 
the fame with that of quadrupeds. 

The lungs hang not loofe in the cavity of the thorax, but 
are fixed to the back-bone : Neither are they divided into 
lobes, as in man and other animals whofe fpines admit of 
confiderable motion. They are red, fpcngy bodies, covered 
with a membrane that is pervious, and communicates with 
the large veficles or air-bags which are fpread over the whole 
abdomen. Thefe veficles, when diftended with air, render 
the bodies of birds fpecifically light. They likewife fupply 
the place of a diaphragm, and ftrong abdominal mufcles. 
They produce the fame effects en the vifcera as thefe muf- 
cles would have done, without the inconveniency of giving 
an additional weight to the body. 

Birds have no bladder of urine : But a blueifh-coloured 
canal, or ureter, is fent off from each kidney, and terminates 
in the rectum. Their urine is difcharged along with the 
faeces. It is a whitifh fubftance, and turns chalky when ex- 
pofed to the air. 

The teilicles of the male are fituated on each fide of the 
back-bone, and are very large in proportion to the fize of the 
animal. From the teflicles proceed two feminal ducts, 
which at firft are ftraight, but afterwards acquire a convolut- 
ed form, as in the epidydymus of man. Thefe ducts termi- 
nate in the penis, of which the cock has too, one on each 
fide of the common cloaca. They are very fmall and fhort ; 
and, from this circumftance, they long efcaped the notice of 
anatomifts. 

In the female, the clufter of yolks, being analogous to the 
human ovaria, are attached to the back-bone by a membrane. 
This membrane is very thin, and continues down to the 
uterus. The yolk, after feparating from its ftalk, pafTes into 
a canal called the infundib'ulum, where it receives a gelatinous 
liquor, w&ich; with what it farther acquires in the uterus, 



S* tHE PHILOSOPHY 

compofes the white of the egg. The uterus is a large bag, 
fttuated at the end of the infundibulum, and is full of wrink- 
les on the infide. Here the egg receives its laft covering, 
or (hell, and is pufhed out of the vagina at an aperture pla- 
ced immediately above the anus. 

From this defcription of the ftructure of granivorous.birds, 
the analogy between them and the herbivorous quadrupeds 
is confpicuous. In both, the number of their ftomachs, the 
length and capacity of their inteftines, and the quality of 
their food, are very fimilar. But this analogy is not confin- 
ed to ftruclure and organs : It extends to manners and dif- 
pofitions. Like the herbivorous quadrupeds, this order of 
birds are diftinguifhed by the gentlenefs and complacency 
of their tempers. Contented with the feeds of plants, or 
fmall infects, the ftronger never wage war with the weaker. 
Their chief attention is occupied in procuring food, in hatch- 
ing and rearing their young ; and their vigilance is kept 
perpetually active in eluding the fnares of men and other 
rapacious animals. The whole are a timid race, and many 
of them are fo tractable that they may eafily be rendered 
domeftic. Man, accordingly, ever attentive to his intereft, 
has not failed to derive advantage from the innocence and 
flupidity of thefe animals. Of the gallinaceous and duck 
kind, which are the moft prolific, and confequently the mod: 
profitable, he has chiefly feiecled the hen, the goofe, the 
duck, the turkey, and the peacock. In this felection he has 
difcovered his fagacity ; for, inftead of pairing, thefe birds 
are polygamous, one male being fufficient to fertilize a num- 
ber of females, which is a great faving in the article of food. 

With regard to carnivorous birds, their general confor- 
mation is nearly the fame with thofe of the granivorous 
kind. They have the fame number of ftomachs ; but all of 
them are fmaller and weaker. Their inteftines are alfo 
much fhorter. To enable them to procure food, they are 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 85 

obliged to fly quickly, and continue long on the wing. 
Their wings, accordingly, are proportionally longer, and 
they have more ftrength in their mufcles. For the purpofe 
of feizing and devouring prey, Nature has beftowed on them 
ftrong hooked bills, and long (harp claws or pounces. They 
have alfo large heads, fhort necks, ftrong brawny thighs, 
and fharp-fighted eyes. 

Like rapacious quadrupeds, birds of prey are capable of 
enduring hunger for a great length of time. This faculty is, 
perhaps, acquired partly by habit ; becaufe the obtaining of 
their food is often very precarious. The females are larger, 
ftronger, and more beautiful both in ihape and plumage, 
than the males. For this reafon, the male hawks are called 
tercels or thirds, becaufe they are fuppofed to be one third 
lefs than the females. Nature feems to have beftowed this 
fuperiority of fize and ftrength upon the female, becaufe fhe 
is obliged to procure food both for herfelf and for her pro- 
geny. 

The analogy between the ftruclure of rapacious birds and 
carnivorous quadrupeds is obvious. Both of them are pro- 
vided with weapons which indicate deftruction and rapine. 
Their manners, are alfo fierce and unfocial. They never, if 
the vulture be excepted, herd together in flocks, like the in- 
ofFenflve granivorous tribes. When not on the wing, they 
conceal themfelves on the tops of fequeftered rocks, or in the 
depths of the forefts, where they fpend their time in fullen 
folitude. Thofe of them which feed upon carion, as 
the raven, have the fenfe of fmelling fo acute, that they 
fcent dead carcaftes at amazing diftances. 

Befide thefe great divifions of birds into granivorous and 
rapacious, whofe manners and difpofitions perfectly coincide 
with the ftructure oif their bodies, there are other tribes to 
whom Nature has given peculiar organs. In all thefe devia- 
tions from the common ftruclure, a fingularitv in the mode 

L 



&G THE PHILOSOPHY 

of living, and the oeeonomy of the animal, is the invariable 
refult. 

Like the amphibious anima-ls, a number of fowls live chief- 
ly in the water, and feed upon fifhes and aquatic infects. 
To enable them to fwim and to dive in queft of food, their 
toes are connected together by broad membranes or webs. 
By ftretching their toes, and ftriking the water backward 
with thefe w T ebs, their bodies are moved forward, and they 
employ their tail as a rudder to direct their courfe. With- 
out thefe additional inftruments, fowls could not fwim ; and, 
accordingly, fuch birds as are not provided with webs never 
take to the water. But thofe furnifhed with webs have fuch 
a frrong propenflty to water, that, when reftrained from 
their favourite element, they difcover the greateft uneafinefs, 
and, when their liberty is reftored, they fly in a direct courle 
either to the fea, a river, or a lake. 

There is another tribe of aquatic birds, fome of which 
feed upon fifhes and infects, and others live principally by 
fucking certain juices from mud. Both thefe kinds frequent 
marlhy places, or the margins of lakes and rivers. They 
do not fwim, but wade, in queft of food. This Angularity 
in their manners required a correfpondent variation in their 
form and ftrudture. To enable them to wade in waters and 
in mires, Nature has provided them with long legs, naked of 
feathers for a confiderable fpace above the knees. Their 
toes are not, like thofe of the fwimmers, connected by con- 
tinued membranous webs. Moft of them have likewife 
very long necks and bills, to enable them to fearch for and 
apprehend their food. To thefe tribes belong the crane, the 
herons, the bittern or miredrum, the ftork, the fpoon-bill, 
the woodcock, the fnipe, and many other fpecies. 

Having given a general idea of the ftrudture and oeeono- 
my of birds, we fhall next make a few remarks on the form 
aad manners of fillies. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 87 

OF THE STRUCTURE AND ORGANS OF FISHES. 

It is one great and benevolent intention of Nature, that 
no part of the univerfe fhould be deprived of inhabitants. 
The earth, the air, the waters, are full of living beings, 
who are not only confcious of their existence, but enjoy de- 
grees of happinefs proportioned to their natures, and the 
purpofes they are deftined to anfwer in the general fcale of 
animation. The different elements in which they live necef- 
farily required a variety in their form, their food, and their 
manners. The inhabitants of the earth and air have alrea- 
dy been partially defcribed : Thofe of the waters are next 
to be confidered. 

The bodies of raoft fifhes are covered with a ftrong, 
thick, fkin, in which numberlefs fcales are inferted in an 
imbricated form, or like tiles on the roofs of houfes. Many 
of them, and particularly thofe which are fhaped like the cod, 
the trout, and the haddock, have a longitudinal line on each 
fide. In thefe lines there are a number of fmall duels or 
apertures, which throw out a mucous fubftance that lubri- 
cates their ikins, and feems to anfwer the fame purpofes as 
the mucous glands or duels placed in moft of our internal 
organs. 

Fifhes are deftitute of hands and feet. Their progrefiive 
motion, therefore, is performed in a manner different from 
that of quadrupeds and birds. Their inftruments of mo- 
tion are fins, or machines confifting of a number of elaftic 
beams, connected to one another by firm membranes. Their 
tails are of the fame texture. Their fpine is remarkably 
flexible toward the pofterior part of the body, and here the 
ftrongeft mufcles are likewife inferted. They have a power 
of contracting and dilating their tails at pleafure ; by which 
means, and by the afliftance of the fins, they move forward 
in the fame manner as a boat with oars on its fides and a 
rudder at its ftern. Fifhes have no neck : As they feek 



88 THE PHILOSOPHY 

their food in a horizontal pofition, and can move their 
bodies either upward or downward, a long neck would necef- 
farily have impeded their motion through the water. 

The form of fillies is extremely various ; and, if their 
hiftory were fufficiently known, the connection between 
their flructure and their manners would be equally apparent 
as in the other tribes with which we are better acquainted. 
Some fifhes are long and cylindrical, as the fea-ferpent, and 
all the eei-fhaped fpecies. The eel -kind, from their figure, 
are enabled to trail their bodies along the bottom, ana to 
conceal themfelves below the fai-d or mud. Others are lefs 
cylindrical, and proportionally fhorter, as the mackrel, the 
cod, the herring, the falmon, &c. Thefe, from the num- 
ber and poiition of their fins, as well as from the fhape of 
their bodies, are deftined for quicker motion, and for trav- 
elling to great diftances in quell of food, or for fpawning in 
fhoals or in rivers. Others, as the flounder, the ikate, the 
turbet, torpedo, &c. are broad and comprefled. Thefe, like 
the eel-kmd, frequent muddy bottoms. Others are triangu- 
lar, quadrangular, round, &c. Befide thofe which approach 
to regular figures, the variations and compofitions are fo nu- 
merous, that the forms of fifhes are much more diversified 
than thofe of quadrupeds or birds. To defend themfelves 
againft their enem'tes, many fifhes are armed with ftrong, 
fharp fpines or prickles. For the fame purpofe, and like- 
wife for wounding or killing their prey, fome have a large 
horn on their front, and others a fword, or rather a faw, 
which are tremendous weapons. The more timid and de- 
fencelefs tribes are endowed with the faculty of rapid mo- 
tion j and fome of them have fins fo large and flexible, that, 
when hard purfued, they are enabled to leave their natural 
element, to dart through the air to confiderable diftances, 
and difappoint the defigns of their enemies. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 89 

Fifties are as much diverfified in fize as in figure. The 
ocean produces the largeft. animals which now inhabit this 
globe. The enormous mafles of the whale and walrus tribes 
far exceed thofe of the elephant, rhinoceros, or river-horie, 
the largeft terreftrial animals of which we have any proper 
knowledge. From the immenie bones, however, found in 
Siberia and many parts of Europe, we are induced to believe, 
that land animals have formerly exifled whofe fize muft have 
been much larger than that of the prefent elephant. This 
animal, whofe fpecies is now fuppofed to be extinguifhed, is 
known among naturalifts by the denomination of the mam- 
mouth. Near the river Ohio, fome prodigious bones and 
teeth have lately been difcovered, which indicate an animal 
of incredible magnitude. 

With regard to internal ftruc"ture, fifties like land-animals, 
are furnifhed with a back-bone and ribs, which run from the 
head to the tail. To thefe, the bones of the head, and the 
fins, all the mufcles and inftruments of motion, are attached? 

The mouths of moft fifties are furnifhed with teeth ; but 
in fome, as the mullet, fturgeon, &c. the teeth are wanting. 
In fome, the teeth are fituated on the jaw-bones, in 
others, on the tongue and palate. The teeth of fifties 
are principally defigned for laying hold of and detaining 
their prey, which they generally fwallow entire. For this 
purpofe, the teeth are commonly ferrated, or bent inward, 
like tenter-hooks. By this ftructure, fmall fifties are eafily 
forced downwards, and their return is at the fame time 
prevented. 

In fifties, the organ of fmelling is large ; and they have a 
power of contracting and dilating, at pleafure, the entry into 
their nofe. 

It was formerly doubted whether fifties were endowed 
with the fenfe of hearing. But that doubt is now fully re- 



90 THE PHILOSOPHY 

moved ; becaufe it has been found, that, like other animals, 
they have a complete organ of hearing, and that water is a 
proper medium for the conveyance of found. Befides, in the 
in the fkate, and fome other genera, the learned and inge- 
nious Dr. Monro, Profeflbr of Anatomy in the College of 
Edinburgh, has lately difcovered an aperture which leads di- 
rectly to the internal parts of the ear. 

The gullet of fifties is fo fhort that it is hardly to be dif- 
tinguifhed from the ftomach, which is of an oblong figure. 
The guts are very fhort, making only three convolutions, the 
laft of which terminates in the common vent for the faeces, 
urine, and femen. From this Structure of the ftomach and 
inteftines, analogy would lead us to conclude, that fifties 
live chiefly upon animal food. Experience, accordingly, 
teaches us, that almoft all fifties prey upon the fmaller kinds, 
and even devour their own young. The liver is proportion- 
ally large, of a whitifh colour, and fituated on the left fide. 
The gall-bladder lies at a considerable diftance from the 
liver, and difcharges the gall into the gut. In fifties, the 
organs of generation are two bags fituated in the abdomen, 
and uniting near the anus. In the male, theie bags are filled 
with a thick whitifh fubftance called the mih % and in the fe- 
male with an infinite number of minute eggs called the roe. 
At the feafon of fpawning, the bags, of both male and fe- 
male are greatly diftended ; but, at other times, the male 
organs can fcarcely be diftinguifhed from thofe of the fe- 
male. 

The fwimming bladder is an oblong, white, membranous 
bag, which contains nothing but a quantity of elaftic air. 
It lies clofe to the back-bone, and has a pretty ftrong mufcu- 
lar coat. By contracting this coat, and, of courfe, condenf- 
ing the air it contains, fome fifties are enabled to render 
their bodies fpecifically heavier than water, and to fink to 
the bottom \ and, when the mufcular fibres ceafe to act, the 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 91 

air dilates, and makes their bodies fpecifically lighter. By 
this curious piece of mechanifm, the animals have the power 
of fmking to the bottom, or of rifing to the furface. Ac- 
cording to the different degrees of contraction and dilation 
of this bladder, fiihes can, at pleafure, keep themfelves high- 
er or lower in the water. Hence flounders, foles, fkate, and 
other fiihes which have no fwimming bladder, always grovel 
at or near the bottom. It is likewife a confequence of the 
relaxation of this bladder, that dead fiihes which are furnifh- 
ed with it uniformly rife to the furface. The air-bag, in 
fome fifties, communicates, by a duel:, with the gullet, and, 
in others, with the ftomach. At the upper end of the air- 
bag, there are red-coloured glandular bodies connected with 
the kidneys. From the kidneys the ureters proceed down- 
ward to their infertion in the urinary bladder, which lies in 
the lower part of the abdomen, and the urethra terminates 
in the anus. 

Fifhes have a membranous diaphragm, or midrifF, that 
forms a fack in which the heart is contained. The heart is 
of a triangular figure. It has only one auricle, one ventri- 
cle, and one great artery. This artery, inftead of fupplying 
all the parts of the body, as in the frog, is diftributed entire- 
ly on the gills. All the branches terminate there, and be- 
come at laft fo fmall that they efcape the naked eye. The 
branchiae, or gills, lie in two large flits on each fide of the 
head, and are analogous to the lungs of land-animals. The 
figure of the gills is femicircular, and on each fide of them 
are immenfe numbers of fibrils refembling fringes. The 
gills are perpetually fubjected to an alternate motion from 
the preffure of the water and the action of the mufcles. 
They are covered with a large flap, which allows an exit to 
the water neceffarily taken in by the animals every time 
their mouths are opened. The blood is again collected by a 
vaft number of fmall veins ; which, inftead of going back a 



M THE PHILOSOPHY 

fecond time to the heart, immediately unite, and form an 
aorta defcendensj which fends off branches to fupply all the 
parts of the body, except the gills. From the extremities 
of thefe branches the blood is collected by veins, and return- 
ed to the heart nearlyin the fame manner as in other animals. 

The organs by which the nutritious part of the food of 
fifties are extracted and conveyed to the general mafs of 
blood, and known by the names of lacteal, abforbent, and 
lymphatic veffels, are fo analogous to thofe of men and quad- 
rupeds, that it is unneceffary to defcribe them. For the 
fame reafon, no defcription fhall be given of the nerves, 
which, as in other animals, proceed from the brain and fpinal 
marrow, and are diftributed over every part of the body. 

Having finifhed this Iketch of the ftructure and organs of 
iifhes, it is almoft needlefs to remark, that, though they live 
in a different element, and vary greatly from land animals in 
figure, Nature, in the formation of their bodies, in the mode 
of their nutrition, refpiration, and fenfation, has acted upon 
the fame great and general plan. 

We are now to take a view of the ftructure of infects, a 
numerous clafs of animals, molt of whom recede farther 
from the common mode of animal organization than any of 
the other claffes. 

OF THE STRUCTURE OF INSECTS. 

In the firft chapter, a few obfervations were made con- 
cerning the ftructure and organs of infects, in order to fhow 
more clearly the analogies between animals and vegetables. 
Thefe it is unneceffary to repeat. We fhall therefore pro- 
ceed to a more particular examination of the ftructure of in- 
fects, and to trace the connection between that and their 
manners. 

Infects exhibit fuch an immenfe variety in figure, colour, 
and difpofition of parts, that Naturalifts have found it necef- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 93 

iary to arrange them into different tribes or families. Thefe 
tribes are diftinguifhed from one another by certain peculi- 
arities in the ftructure of their bodies. 

The moil general divifion of in! eels is derived from the 
circumftance of their having or wanting wings, and from the 
number and fubftances of which thefe inftruments of motion 
are compofed. They are diftinguifhed from all other ani- 
mals by many peculiarities of form. None of the other 
clafFes have more legs than four. But moft infects have fix ; 
and many of them have eight, ten, fourteen, fixteen, eighteen, 
and even a hundred, legs. Befide the number of legs, in- 
fects are furnifhed with antennae or feelers. Thefe feelers, 
by which infects grope and examine the fubftances they meet 
with, are compofed of a great number of articulations or 
joints. Linnaeus, and other Naturalifts, maintain, that the 
ufes of thefe feelers are totally unknown. But the flighteft 
attention to the manner in which fome infects employ their 
feelers will fatisfy us of at leaft one ufe they derive from 
thefe organs. When a winglefs infect is placed at the end 
of a twig, or in any fituation where it meets with a vacuity, 
it moves the feelers backward and forward, elevates, depref- 
fes, and bends them from fide to fide, and will not advance 
farther, left it mould fall. Place a ftick, or any other fub- 
ftance, within reach of the feelers ; the animal immediately 
applies them to this new object, examines whether it is fufficient 
to fupport the weight of its body, and inftantly proceeds in its 
journey. Though moft infects are provided with eyes, yet 
the lenfes of which they confift are fo fmall and convex, that 
they can fee diftindtly but at fmall diftances, and, of courfe, 
muft be very incompetent judges of the vicinity or remote- 
nefs of objects. To remedy this defect, infects are provided 
with feelers, which are perpetually in motion while the ani- 
mals walk. By the fame inftruments, they are enabled to 
walk with fafety in the dark. 
■-... M 



£1 The philosophy 

No other animals but the infect tribes have more than two 
eyes. Some of them have four, as the phalangium ; others, 
as the fpider and fcorpion, have eight eyes. In a few infects, 
the eyes are fmooth ; in all the others, they : e hemifpheri- 
cal, and confift of many thoufand diftinct lenfes. The eyes 
are abfolutely immoveable: But this defect u fupplied by 
the van: number of lenfes, which, from the ty of their 

portions, are capable of -viewing objects in every dir 
By the fmallnefs and convexity of thefe lenfes, which pro- 
duce the fame effect as the object glafs of a i 
feels r.re enabled to fee bodies that are too minute to be per- 
ceived by the human eye. 

Another peculiarity deferves our notice.- No animal, ex- 
cept a numerous tribe of four-winged infects, have more than 
two wings. 

With regard to fex, quadrupeds, birds., and Zlhez, are dif- 
tinguifhed into males and females. But the bee and the ant 
furnifb examples of neuters, which are abfolutely barren : 
And the earth-worm, and feveral {hell infects, are herma- 
phrodite, each individual poffefling the prolific powers of 
both male and female. 

It is likewife remarkable, that all winged infects undergo 
three metamorphofes or changes of form : The egg is dii- 
charged from the body of the female in the fame manner 
as in other oviparous animals. By a wonderful inftinct, 
thefe ieemingly ftupid creatures uniformly depofit their eggs 
on fuch animal or vegetable fubftances as furnifh proper 
food for the worm or caterpillar, that is to be hatched by 
the heat of the fun. The worm or caterpillar is the firft 
ltate. The bodies of caterpillars are foft and moift. They 
have no wings, and are totally deprived of the faculty of 
generation. After continuing for fome time in this reptile 
itate, they are transformed into a chryfalis, which is drier 
and harder than the caterpillar. The chryfalis of fom* 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 95 

infers are naked, and thofe of others are covered with a 
filken web, fpun by the animals before their change is com- 
pleted. In this ftate, many of them lie motionlefs, and 
feemingly inannimate, during the whole winter. When the 
ipring or fummer heats return, they burft from their lafb 
prifon, and, from vile reptiles, are transformed into beauti- 
ful flies. In this perfect ftate they are exceedingly active, 
fly about in queft of their mates, and, after propagating 
their fpecies, the females depofit their eggs, and the fame 
circle of animation and change perpetually goes round. 
Hence the ftructure and figure of the fame individual ani- 
mals are three-fold, w r hich renders the knowledge of infects 
extremely complicated, as we muft be acquainted with them 
in the feveral forms they fucceflively affume. 

There is another peculiarity in the ftructure of infects. 
They are deprived of bones. But that defect is fupplied, 
in fome, by a membranous or mufcular fkin, and, in others, 
by a cruftaceous or horny covering. In this circumftance, 
infects refemble the fh ell-animals, whofe bones conflitute 
the external parts of their bodies. 

In general, the bodies of infects are compofed of a head, 
trunk, and abdomen. The head is commonly attached to 
the trunk by a joint or articulation. Befide eyes, feelers, 
and mouth, the heads of fome infects are furnifhed with 
palpi fixed to the mouth ; and they are either four or fix in 
number. Each of them confifts of two, three, or four joints, 
and are often miftaken for the antennae or feelers. Thefe 
inftruments feem to ferve the animals inftead of hands ; for 
they employ the palpi to bring the food to their mouths, 
and to keep it fteady while eating. It is afTerted by Lin- 
naeus, and other Naturalifts, that the heads of infects are des- 
titute of brains, noftrils and ears. The mimitenefs of the 
animals under consideration may have hitherto prevented us 
from diftinguifhing thefe organs. If they want a brain, it 



96 THE PHILOSOPHY 

is certain that their fenfe of feeing is acute j and we know 
that they are amply fupplied with nerves > which produce 
the fame effects as the brain in larger animals. If they are 
deprived of noftrils, the flighted: attention muft convince us, 
that fome of them poffefs the fenfe of fmelling in a very high 
degree. Upon any other fuppofition, bow fhould the dif- 
ferent fpecies of flies, the moment they efcape from the 
chryfalis ftate, diftinguifh, and directly approach, the differ- 
ent animal and vegetable fubftances Nature has deftined for 
their refpective nourifhment ? A piece of meat is no fooner 
expofed to the air than it is covered with flefh flies, upon 
which they both feed and depofit their eggs. Without this 
fenfe, how fhould wafp9, and other flies, be allured from 
confiderable diftances into bottles encrufted with honey or 
molaffes ? Thefe, and fimilar actions, cannot be effects of 
fight ; for the diftance, the minutenefs, and frequently the 
pofition of the food, render it impofiible for the eye to dif- 
cover thofe fubftances to which they inftantly refort. 

With regard to hearing, it is more difficult to determine 
whether infects be endowed with this fenfe. We can judge 
of it, not by the knife of the Anatomift, but by the affections 
and motions of the animals themfelvcs. Several trials I have 
made on houfe-flies incline me to think that thefe animals 
poffefs a fenfe of a nature fimilar, at leaft, to that of hearing. 
At the diftance of three or four feet, a fmart ftroke, even 
upon a ftone wall, alarms and puts them to flight. But this 
may partly be attributed to the vibration in the wall, or the 
concuilion of the air, produced by the ftroke. To obviate 
this difficulty, at the fame diftance of between three and 
four feet, I ftruck the air repeatedly with a bookbinder's 
folder, without giving the fmalleft alarm to the flies. But, 
when I ftruck the folder againft the boards of a book, which 
I held in my hand, and made a fmart noife, the animals 
were inftantly alarmed, and flew off at the fecond ftroke. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 97 

The fame effect is produced in a room juft light enough to 
render the animals vifible. Thefe trials, which I have often 
repeated, feem to indicate that flies, if they are really depriv- 
ed of ears, are endowed with an analogous fenfe, though we 
are ignorant of its fituation. 

Naturalifts have limited the fenfes of infects to thofe of 
feeing and feeling. But the above remarks render it more 
than probable that flies poifefs likewife the fenfes of fmelling 
and of hearing : Neither fhould the fenfe of tafle be denied 
them ; for, though they may be aflifted by fmelling to dii- 
cover and felect their food, we cannot fuppofe that Nature 
has denied them the pleafure which other animals {o univerr 
fally derive from eating. Befides, an agreeable fenfation, 
fimilar to that of tafle, muft accompany an action which re«? 
moves the pain arifing from hunger. 

The mouth of infects is generally placed in the undes 
part of the head ; but, in fome, it is fituated in the breaft* 
The jaws, inftead of being horizontal, are often tranfverfe, 
and furnifhed with teeth. The greater number of winged 
infects are provided with a probofcis or trunk, an inftrument 
by which they extract the juices from animal or vegetable 
fubftances. The probofcis of infects is a machine -of a very 
complicated nature. In butterflies, the probofcis is fituated 
preciiely between the two eyes. Though fome of them ex- 
ceed three inches in length, they occupy but a fmall fpace. 
When a butterfly is not in queft of food, the probofcis is 
rolled up in a fpiral form, fimilar to that of a watch-fpring s 
each fucceilive ring covering the one which precedes. The 
fubftance of the probofcis has fome refemblance to that of 
horn. It tapers from the bafe to the extremity. It is com- 
pofed of two fimilar and equal parts, each of which is con- 
cave, and, when joined, form three diftinct tubes. Reaumur 
has rendered it probable, that thefe tubes enable the animals 
to extract the juices of plants, to conduct air into thefr 



#8 THE PHILOSOPHY 

bodies, and to convey the fenfation of fmelling. Hence the 
probofcis of infects is an inftrument which ferves them for a 
mouth, a nofe, and a wind-pipe. 

The upper part of the trunk or body of infects is called 
the thorax, and the under part the abdomen or belly. The 
abdomen contains the ftomach and other vifcera. It con- 
fifts of feveral rings or fegments, and is perforated with fpi- 
racula, or tubes, which fupply the want of lungs. The ab- 
domen is terminated by the tail, which, in fome infects, is 
armed with a fting, a foreceps, a brittle, or a kind of claw 
with a moveable thumb. 

The legs are compofed of three parts, connected to each 
other by joints, and reprefent the thighs, fhanks, ankles, and 
feet of larger animals. 

The wings of infects are fo diverfified in number, confid- 
ence, and colour, that Linnaeus has made them the founda- 
tion of the feveral orders or divifions into which he divides 
this numerous clafs of animals. $ome infects are furnifhed 
with four, and others with two wings, and fome of them are 
entirely deflitute of thefe inftruments of motion. 

The four-winged infects are arranged into five orders. 
The^/? order Linnaeus diftinguifh.es by the name of coleop- 
tera 9 or thofe infects whofe upper pair of wings confift of a 
hard, cruftaceous, or horny fubfbnce. Thefe cover and de- 
fend the under pair, which are of a more foft and flexible 
texture. This order comprehends the w r hole of what is prop- 
erly called fcarabaei, or the beetle tribe. Like other wing- 
ed infects, all the beetles live for fome time in the form of 
caterpillars, or grabs. 

As a farther confirmation of the connection of manners 
with form and flructure, it is here worthy of remark, that 
the fame -nimals, when in the ftate of caterpillars, live in a 
different manner, and feed on fubftances of a very different 
jfind from thofe they confume after their transformation into 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 99 

flies. The caterpillars of the garden-beetle, cock-chafer, 
Sec. lead a folitary life under ground, and confume the roots 
of plants. Thofe of others feed upon putrid carcaffes, every 
kind of flefh, dried fkins, rotten wood, the dung of men and 
quadrupeds, and the fmall infects called pucerons, or vinefret- 
ters. The devourers of the puceron contribute to cure fuch 
plants as happen to be infected with the phtkiria/is, or loufy 
difeafe. But, after their transformation into flies, many of 
the fame animals, which formerly fed upon dung and putrid 
carcafTes, are nourifhed by the pureft nectareous juices ex- 
tracted from fruits and flowers. The creatures themfelves, 
with regard to what may be termed individual animation, have 
fuffered no alteration. But the fabrick of their bodies, their 
inftruments of motion, and the organs by which they take 
their food, are materially changed. This change of ftruc- 
ture, though the animals retain their identity, produces the 
greateft diverfity in their manners, their oeconomy, and the 
powers of their bodies. In the caterpillar ftate, thefe ani- 
mals are extremely voracious, and, in many inftances, acquire 
a greater magnitude than they poiTefs after transformation ; 
but they are incapable of multiplying their fpecies, and of re- 
ceiving nourishment from the fame kinds of food. Befides, 
many caterpillars, previous to their transformation, live even 
in a different element. The ephemeron fly, when in the 
caterpillar ftate, lives no lefs than three years in the water, 
and extracts its nourifhment from earth and clay. After 
transformation, this animal feldom exifts longer than one 
day, during which the fpecies is propagated, and myriads of 
eggs are depofited on the furface of the water. Thefe eggs 
produce worms or caterpillars, and the fame procefs goes per- 
petually round. 

Linnaeus's y^wtfJ order of infecls, or hemiptera> have like- 
wife four wings. But the upper pair, inftead of being hard 
and horny, rather referable fine vellum. They cover the 



100 THE PHILOSOPHY 

bofly horizontally, and do not meet in a direct line, forming 
a ridge or future, as in the beetle tribe. The whole of this 
order are furnifhed with a probof cis or trunk for extracting 
their food. 

This order comprehends feveral genera or kinds, lome of 
which we fhall mention in a curfory manner. — The blatta, or 
cockroach^ is an animal which avoids the light, and is particu- 
larly fond of meal, bread, putrid bodies, and the roots of 
plants. It frequents bakers fhops and cellars, and flies the 
approach of danger with great fwiftnefs. — The head of the 
mantis, or camel-cricket , appears, from its continual nodding 
motion, to be {lightly attached to the thorax. This infect is 
regarded by the Africans as a facred animal ; becaufe it fre- 
quently afTurnes a praying or fupplicating pofture, by refting 
on its hind feet, and elevating and folding the rlrft pair. 
The gryllus comprehends a number of fpccies, fome of which 
are called grafshoppers , others locufls, and others crickets. The 
larvae, or caterpillars of the grylli, have a great refemblance 
to the perfect infects, and, in general, live under ground. 
Many of thefe Infects feed upon the leaves of plants. Others, 
which live in houfes, prefer, bread, and every kind of farina- 
ceous fubftance. — The fulgora, or fire-fly : The foreheads of 
feveral of this genus, efpecially of thofe that inhabit China, 
and other hot climates, emit a very lively mining light during 
the night, which often alarms thofe who are unacquainted 
with the caufe of the appearance. — The cicada, frog-hopper, 
or Jlea-locuJ} : The larvae, or caterpillars, of fome of this ge- 
nus, difcharge a kind of froth or ialiva from the anus and 
pores of the body, under which they conceal themfelves from 
the rapacity of birds and other enemies. — The papa or wa- 
ter fcorpion, frequents ftagnant waters. It lives chiefly on a- 
quatic infects, and is exceedingly voracious. — The cimex or 
bug : Many fpecies of this genus feed upon the juices of 
plants, and others upon the blood of animals. Some of them 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 101 

are found in waters, and others frequent houfes, among 
which, though it wants wings, is the bed-bug, a peftiferous 
infect, which is too well known, and too generally diffufed. 
The bugs differ from other infects by their foftnefsj and moil: of 
them emit a very foetid fmell. The aphis, puceron, oxvine-fretteri 
Thefe infects are very common, and are generally termed the 
lice of the plants which they infeft : The puceron, as remark- 
ed in the firfl chapter, is viviparous in fummer, and ovipa- 
rous in autumn. Numbers of them are devoured by the 
ants, on account, as is fuppofed, of a fweet liquor with which 
their bodies are perpetually moiftened. Chermes : The lar- 
vae or caterpillars of this infect have fix feet, and are gen- 
erally covered with a hairy or woolly fubftance. The winged 
infects leap or fpring with great agility, and infeft a number 
of different trees and plants : The females, by means of a tube 
at the termination of their bodies, infert their eggs under 
the furface of the leaves, and the worms, when hatched give 
rife to thofe tubercles, or galls, with which the leaves of the 
afh, the fir, and other trees, are fometimes almoft entirely 
covered. 

The third order or tribe of four-winged infects confifts of 
three genera only. But the fpecies comprehended under 
them are exceedingly numerous. All butterflies and moths 
belong to this order. Their wings are covered with a fari- 
naceous powder, or rather with a kind of fcales or feathers, 
difpofed in regular rows, nearly in the fame manner as tiles 
are laid upon the roofs of houfes. The elegance, the beauty 
the variety of colours exhibited in their wings, are produced 
by the difpofition and different tinctures of thefe minute 
feathers. The infects of this order, on account of their beau- 
ty and eafy prefervation, have always been the favourites of 
collectors, and particularly of thofe of the female fex. When 
the feathers are rubbed off, the wings appear to be nothing 

N 



10S THE PHILOSOPHY 

more than a naked, and often a tranfparent membrane. The 
feelers of the papllio, or butterfly, are thickeft at their extremi- 
ty, and often terminate in a kind of capitulum, or head. 
Their wings, when fitting, oi* at reft, are erec~t, their extremi- 
ties join each other above the body, and the animals fly a- 
bout, in queft of food and of their mates, during the day. 
The moths are divided into two genera, the one called 
fphinx, or hawk moth, and the other phalaena, or moth. The 
feelers of the fphinx are thicker in the middle than at the ex- 
tremities, and their form, in fome meafure, refembles that of 
a prifm. The wings are, in general, deflected, their cuter 
margins declining towards the fides. They fly about 
in the morning, and after fun-fet ; and, by means of 
probofcis, like the butterflies, they fuck the juices of plants. 
The phalaena, or moth : The feelers of this genus are feta- 
ceous, and taper from the bafe to the point. When at reft, 
their wings are commonly deflected ; and they fly during 
the night. Previous to their transformation, the caterpillars 
of the whole of this genus fpin webs for covering and pro- 
tecting the animals while in the chryfalis ftate. From a fpe- 
cies of this tribe mankind have derived one of the greateft 
articles of luxury and of commerce which now exifts in the 
world. That feemingly contemptible, that difgufting reptile 
known by the appellation of the ftlk -worm , in its pafTagefrom 
the caterpillar to the chryfalis ftate, produces thofe fplendid 
materials which adorn the thrones of Princes, and add digni- 
ty and luftre to female beauty*. 

The wings of the fourth order, diftinguifhed by the name 
of neuroptera, are membranaceous, naked, and fo interfperfed 
with delicate veins, that they have the appearance of beauti- 
ful net-work. Their tail has no fting ; but that of the male 
is frequently furnifhed with a kind of forceps or pincers. 
To this order belongs the libella, or dragon-fly, an infect of 
very fplendid and variegated colours.. It is a large and well 

* See Chap. XI. concerning the Transformation of Animal*. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 103 

known fly, and frequents rivers, lakes, pools, and fragnating 
waters, in which the females depoiit their eggs. Their mode 
of generating is lingular. Different fpecies of them appear 
from the beginning of fummer to the middle of autumn. 
They generally fly in pairs and in a ftraight line, the male pur- 
fuing the female. The organs of the male are fituated in his 
breaft : When he overtakes her, with the forceps in his tail 
he lays hold of her by the neck, while fhe, by an inftinctive 
impulfe, makes the lower end of her body approach the male 
organs. In this united fituation they form a kind of ring, 
have the appearance of a double animal, and fly along till 
the purpofe is accomplished. Under the fame order is com- 
prehended the phryganea, or fpring-fly : The larvae or cater- 
pillars of this genus live in the water, and are covered with 
a filken tube. They have a very fingular afpect ; for, by 
means of a gluten, they attach to the tubes in which they are 
inclofed fmall pieces of wood, fand, gravel, leaves of plants, 
and not unfrequently live teflaceous animals, all of which 
they drag along with them. They are very commonly found 
in falads of the water-crefs ; and, as they are often entirely 
covered with green leaves, they have the appearance of ani- 
mated plants. They are in great requeft among fifhermen, 
by whom they are diftinguifhed by the name oijlone y or cod" 
bait. The fly, or perfect infect, frequents running waters, 
in which the females depofit their eggs. 

The fifth order is termed hymenoptera. In general, the in- 
fects belonging to this order have four membranaceous and 
naked wings. In fome of the genera, however, the neuters, 
and, in others, the males, or even the females, have no wings. 
Their tails except in the male fex, are armed with a fting. — 
The female of the cynlps^ an infect belonging to this order, 
inferts her eggs into the leaves of the oak, and the caterpillars 
produced from them give rife to the galls employed in 
the compofition of ink. This order likewife includes the 



104 THE PHILOSOPHY 

wafp, the bee, and the ant. Many of the wafp kind, like 
the bees, live in fociety, make combs in which the females 
depofit their eggs, and feed their caterpillars with an inferior 
fpecies of honey. Others of them confrruct a feparate' neft 
for each individual egg. The bee is an infect too well known 
to require a particular defcription. The males have no fting ; 
but the females, and the drones, or neuters, have a very lharp 
pointed fting concealed in their abdomen. The female of 
the honey bee is much larger than the male, or the neuter. 
Her feelers contain fifteen articulations. Her abdomen is 
compofed of feven fegments, and is much longer than her 
wings. The feelers of the male contain only eleven articula- 
tions. The neuters are much fmallar than the males or fe- 
males, and their feelers confift of fifteen articulations. The 
fting,, with which the male and female ants are armed, is con- 
cealed within the abdomen. The males and females of the 
ant are furnilhed with wings, but the neuters are deprived 
of thefe inftruments of motion. The ants live in focieties 
which are compofed of males, females, and neuters, The 
males are much fmaller than the females and neuters. Soon 
after the males and females propagate the fpecies, they all 
die. Some of the neuters, however, furvive the winter ; 
but they remain in their habitation without movement, or 
difcovering any figns of life. From thefe circumitances in 
the hiftory of ants, it is apparent, that the induftry and fa- 
gacity fo long and fo univerfally afcribed to thefe little ani- 
mals could be of no ufe either to themfelves or their proge- 
ny. The female, after depofiting her eggs, takes no farther 
care of her offspring. But, what is fingular, the important 
office of feeding the larvae, or caterpillars, after the eggs 
are hatched, is left entirely to the neuters. This affectionate 
and afnduous attentionof the neuters to a progeny neither 
begot nor brought forth by them, is fo aftonifhing, fo con- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 10S 

trary to the general oeconomy of Nature, that no reafon- 
ing or theory can account for a fact fo uncommon, till far- 
ther difcoveries fhall be made in the hiftory of thefe fur- 
priiing animals. What is ftill more fmgular, after the cater- 
pillars are transformed into the chryfalis ftate, the neuters 
are inceffantly and anxioufly employed in preferving the 
chryfales from humidity when the weather is wet, and in ex- 
poflng them to the warmth of the fun when it is fair. Thefe 
chryfales are larger than the animals themfelves, and yet they 
carry them off with eafe and rapidity. 

The ftxth order of infects is termed diptera^ or two-wind- 
ed infects. The different fpecies of this order, befide wings, 
are furnifhed with what is called a halter or a poiflr, which 
is fltuated under each wing, and is terminated by a capitu- 
lum, or knob. This order comprehends ten genera and a mul- 
titude of fpecies. The caterpillars of the cejlrns, or gadfly „ 
lie concealed in the ikins of cattle, where they are nourifh- 
ed during the whole winter. The perfect infects are frequent 
wherever hcrfes, cows, or fheep, are grazing. Some of 
them depofit their eggs in the Ikins of cows or oxen , others 
depoht them in the inteftines of horfes, to which they get 
accefs by the anus j and others in the noftrils of fheep. In 
thefe habitations, the caterpillars refide till they are full 
grown, when they throw themfelves down to the earth, and 
generally pais the chryfalis ftate under the firfl ftone they 
meet with. The mufca, or common Jly : The mouth of this 
infect confifts of a foft, flemy probofcis, with two lateral lips. 
The caterpillars of fome of this genus devour the pucerons ; 
others confume all kinds of putrid flefli ; others are found 
in cheefe ; others in the excrements of different animals ; 
and many of them live in the water, and prefer that which 
is moft corrupted and muddy. The mouth of the culex, or 
gnat confifts of a flexible fheath, inclofing four briftles, or 
pointed flings. The feelers of the female gnat are plain like 



106 THE PHILOSOPHY 

a thread ; but thofe of the male are beautifully feathered. 
The worms or caterpillars of this genus are commonly found 
in flagnant waters. The gnats generally frequent woods and 
nwfhy places. The females, in particular, are very trouble- 
fome, and fling feverely. The feet of the hippobofca or horfe- 
fly, are armed with a number of nails or crotchets. In fome 
fpecies, the wings crofs each other •, in others, they are 
open. The horfe-flies frequent woods and marihy grounds,, 
and are extremely incommodious to birds and quadrupeds, 
whofe blcod is the only food of thefe infects. 

The feventh order of infects Linnaeus denominates aptera y 
becaufe neither males nor females are furnifhed with wings. 
This order comprehends thirteen genera, and a great num- 
ber of fpecies, many of which are very offenflve and noxious 
to the human fpecies. The pediculus y or loufe, has fix legs, 
two prominent eyes, and its mouth contains a fling or fucker, 
by which it extracts blood and other juices from the bodies 
of animals. Though almofl every different animal is infefled 
with a peculiar fpecies of lice, fpecific characters of very few 
of them have hitherto been afcertained. Lice are of various 
forms. Some of them are oval, others oblong, and others 
long and flender. They are oviparous animals, and their 
eggs are large in proportion to the fize of their bodies. Be- 
fore they arrive at maturity, they change their fkin feveral 
times. They are fuppofed to be hermaphrodites. This cir- 
cumflance, if true, may partly account for their prodigious 
multiplication. Swammerdam, who diffected a great num- 
ber, allures us, that he never found one without an ovary, 
nor ever difcovered the organs peculiar to the male fex. If 
this flrudture be univerfal, the loufe is an hermaphrodite of 
a very peculiar kind ; becaufe it mufl be capable of foecun- 
dating itfelf. Several fpecies of worms are hermaphrodites ; 
but, inflead of foecunding themfelves, they are obliged to im- 
pregnate each other. The pukx, or flea, has likewife fix legs, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 107 

(he articulations of which are fo exceedingly elaftic, that the 
animal is enabled by their means, to fpring to furprifing dis- 
tances. It has two fine eyes, and its body is covered with 
cruftaceous fcales. The flea is the only infect belonging to 
this order which undergoes a transformation fimilar to that 
of the former orders : All the other winglefs infects are pro- 
duced in a perfect flate either by the mother, or from eggs. 
The caterpillars of the flea have forked tails, and are very 
fmall and lively. They may be nourifhed in boxes, and fed 
with flies, which they greedily devour. Before changing in- 
to the chryfalis flate, they live fourteen or fifteen days in 
the form of caterpillars. Aranea^ or fpider : This genus 
comprehends a great many fpecies. The fpider has eight 
feet, and an equal number of immoveable eyes. The chief 
prey of the fpider is flies, animals whofe motions are ex- 
tremely quick and defultory. To enable the fpider to ob- 
ferve their movements in every direction, fhe is furnifhed 
with eight eyes, the pofition of which merits attention ; 
Two of them are placed on the top of the head, other two 
on the front, and two on each fide. The mouth is armed 
with two crotchets, by which it feizes and kills its prey. 
Round the anus there are feveral mufcular infrruments, 
fhaped like nipples or teats. Each of thefe contain about a 
thoufand tubes or outlets for threads fo extremely minute, 
that many hundreds of them muft be united before they 
form one of thofe vifible ropes of which the fpider's web is 
compofed. The figure of the web varies according to the 
fpecies, or the fituation the animal choofes for its abode. 
After the web is completed, fome fpecies refide in the center, 
and others occupy the extremity of their habitations, where 
they lie in ambufh, with aflonifhing patience, till an ill-fated 
fly is accidently entangled. The fpider, from the vibration 
of the threads, perceives his prey, rufhes forth from his cell, 
mftantly feizes it with his fangs, devours its vitals, and after- 



lOS THE PHILOSOPHY 

Wards rejects the exhaufted carcafe. Spiders prey upon all 
weaker infects, and even upon their own fpecies. The 
fcorpion ; this venomous infect is a native of warmer cli- 
mates than thofe of the north of Europe. It has eight feet, 
and two claws, the laft of which are fituated on the fore part 
of the head. Like the fpider, the fcorpion has eight eyes, 
three of which are placed on each fide of the breaft, and the 
other two on the back. The tail is long, jointed, and termi- 
nates in a fharp crooked fling. The venom of the fcorpion 
is more deftrudtive than that of any other infect ; and is 
fometimes fatal in Africa and other hot regions. 

The laft divifion of infects is termed vermes or worms, by 
Linnaeus. This clafs comprehends not only all the infects 
commonly called worms, but all the teftaceous animals, and 
the zoophites, or plant-animals. The ftructure of feveral 
genera belonging to this clafs is extremely Angular. After 
giving a few examples, we fliall haften to the conclufion of 
the prefent fubject. 

The body of the gordius, or hair-worm, is long, fliaped 
like a thread or hair, fmooth, and round. A fpecies of the 
hair-worm is very common in our frefh waters, and is per- 
fectly harmlefs. In Scotland, it is a vulgar and foolifh no- 
tion, that the hair of a horfe's tail, when -thrown into the 
water, is converted into this worm. Though inoffenfive in 
this country, the hair-worm of Africa, and of both the In- 
dies, is extremely noxious. It is of a pale yellowifh colour, 
and is frequently met with among the grafs, cfpecialiy when 
covered with dew. It often infinuates itfelf into the naked 
feet or limbs of children and unw r ary perfons, where it pro- 
duces an inflamation, which is fometimes fatal. It may be 
extracted by tying a thread round its head, and then pulling 
it gently out of its abode. But this operation requires great 
caution j for, if the animal is broken, the part which remains 
does not die, but, in a fhort time, regains what it had loft, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 109 

and becomes equally entire and troublefGme as if it had re- 
ceived no injury. The lumbricus or earth-worm : The body 
of this worm is cylindrical, confifts of many rings, and the 
middle is encompafTed with an elevated belt. It is likewife 
furnifhed with fharp prickles, which the animal can erecl: or 
deprefs at pleafure. Through certain perforations in the 
fkin, it occasionally emits a flimfy fluid, which lubricates its 
body, and facilitates its pafTage into the foil. The interlines 
of this worm are always rilled with a fine earth, which feems 
to conftitute its only nourishment. Earth-worms, like fnails, 
are hermaphrodite. The parts of generation are placed near 
the neck, and they mutually impregnate each other. This 
operation is performed on the furface of the ground \ and, 
while thus employed, they will allow themfelves to be crufh- 
ed to pieces rather than part. The females depofit their 
eggs in the earth, where they are hatched. Thefe worms, 
like the polypus, when cut through the middle, reproduce, 
and each portion becomes a diftinct individual. According 
to the different periods of their growth, their colour varies ; 
but, in general, it is a dufky red. 

The fepid, or cuttle-fjh, though comparatively a large ani- 
mal, fome of them being two feet long, is ranked by Linnae- 
us under the clafs of worms. The ftructure of the cuttle 
fifh is remarkable. Its body is cylindrical, and, in fome of 
the fpecies, is entirely covered with a flefhy fheath ; in oth- 
ers, the fheath reaches only to the middle of the body. The 
fepia has eight tentacula, or arms, befide two feelers, as they 
are called, which are much longer than the arms. Both the 
feelers and arms are furnifhed with fir on g cups, or fuckers, 
fhaped like the cup of an acorn, by means of which the ani- 
mal feizes its prey, and firmly attaches itfelf to rocks, or to 
the bottom of the fea. It has two large and prominent eyes. 
What is frill more Angular, it is furnifhed with a hard, 
ftrong, horney beak, precifely fimilar, both in texture and 

O 



1 10 THE PHILOSOPHY 

fubftance, to the bill of a parrot. With this bill, the cuttle- 
fifh is enabled to break the fhells of limpets, and other 
fhell-animals, upon which it chiefly feeds. In the bel- 
ly, there is an aperture through which the animal, when pur- 
sued by its enemies, emits a fluid as black as ink, tinges the 
water, and often efcapes by this ingenious ftrar 
Ancient Romans frequently ufed this black fluid : 
writing. The males and females copulate by a mutual em- 
brace. The female depofits her eggs upon fea-plants in j 
eels refembling bunches of grapes. At the inftant they 
drop from the mother, the eggs are white ; but the male im- 
mediately coats them over with a black liquor. The male 
perpetually accompanies the female. When the female is 
attacked, he braves every danger, and often refcues her at 
the hazard of his own life. The bone of the cuttle-fifh is 
very light, and, when pulverized, it is employed by different 
artifts in making moulds. 

The meduja is an animal which has the appearance of a 
lifelefs mafs of jelly floating on the furface of the ocean. Its 
body is roundifh, flattened underneath, and the mouth is 
fituated in the centre of the under part. There are many 
fpecies of this feemingly moil: imperfect, defencelefs, and ab- 
ject part of animated nature. They are, however, furnifli- 
ed with tentacula, by which they feize infects and the fmall 
fry of fifties, convey them to their mouths, and devour them. 
Although the fport of the waves, and the prey of every fifh 
that approaches them, they are gregarious animals, and, par- 
ticularly in warm climates, fometimes collect in fuch num- 
bers as to have the appearance of whitilh rocks under the 
furface of the ocean. 

WE have thus given a fhort fketch of the ftructure of 
animals, from man down to the infect tribes, and ihall now 
conclude with a few remarks. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. Ill 

In all the variety of animated beings whofe general ftruc- 
ture has been exhibited, the intelligent reader will eafily per- 
ceive, that the bodily forms of the different kinds are exactly 
adapted to the rank they hold in the creation, and that their 
©economy and manners are ftrictly and invariably connected 
with their ftruchire and organs. If a new animal appears, 
and if its figure be uncommon, it may with fafety be pro- 
nounced, that its manners are equally uncommon. Change 
the external or internal form of an animal 5 diminifh the 
number of ftomachs in the ruminating tribes ; or give to the 
horfe a parrot's bill ; and the fpecies will be annihilated. 

The comparative power, or ftrength, of animals depends 
not on ftrucl:ure alone. Mental faculties, and docility, or 
the capacity of receiving inftruction., feem to be the greater! 
fources of animal power. Hence man's unlimited empire 
all other creatures. The inventions of language, of 
arms, of writing, printing, and engraving, have been the 
chief means of extending his influence, and of his acquiring 
the dominion of the earth. By thefe arts, men tranfmit the 
improvements, the inventions, and the acquifitions, of one 
age to another. By thefe arts, the difpolitions of men are 
foftened, their manners become more and more civilized, 
humanity is gradually extended and refined, and the grofTer 
animofities yield to external politenefs and decorum at leaft, 
if the feelings themfelves be not blunted. How far this pro- 
grefs of fcience, and the peaceful arts of life, by the accumu- 
lation of ages, may proceed, it is impofiible to determine. 
But the time, it is to be hoped, is not very remote, when 
the fiercer contentions of nations will ceafe, when felfifh- 
nefs and venality, which at prefent feem to be infeparable 
from commercial ftates, will give way to generofity of tem- 
per, and uprightn'efs of conduct. 



112 THE PHILOSOPHY 



CHAPTER III. 



Of the Refpiration of Animals — Air necejfary to the exigence of 
all animated beings — The various modifications of the organs 
employed by Nature for the tranfmifjlon of Air into animal 
bodies, 

IT is foreign to the defign of this chapter to 
mention the different kinds of air ; to unfold its compofi- 
tion; or" to recapitulate the innumerable benefits derived 
from it in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, in the arts of 
life, and in the texture and cohefion of inanimate bodies. 
For our pnrpofe, it is fufficient to obferve, that by air is 
meant that common elaftic fluid which pervades this globe, 
and which by its weight, its preflure in all directions, and its 
compreihbility, infinuates itfelf into every vacuity, and is 
neceflary to the exigence of every animal and vegetable 
being. 

In man, and the larger land animals, air is taken into the 
body by the lungs. When an animal infpires, the external 
air pafTes through the apertures of the mouth and nofe into 
the trachea or wind-pipe, and thence directly into the lungs. 
This air, by infinuating itfelf into the numerous cells of the 
lungs, neceflarily inflates them, and, when retained for a 
fecond or two, produces an uneafy fenfation. To remove 
this difagreeable feeling, the animal inftinctively, by the ex- 
ertion of particular mufcles deftined by Nature for that 
purpofe, forces out the air, and thus removes the offending 
caufe. The lungs, after the air is thrown out, inftead of be- 
ing inflated, collapfe ; and, if a frefh fupply is not foon tak- 
en in, a fimilar uneafy fenfation is fell, which obliges the 
animal again to infpire. This alternate reception and rejec- 
tion of air goes on during the life of the animal, and is dif- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 113 

tinguifhed by the general name of refpiration. But, when 
treating more accurately of the fubject, the act of taking air 
into the lungs is called infpiration^ and the act of throwing it 
out is termed expiration. 

That the refpiration of air is indifpenfible to the exigence 
of land animals, has been proved by innumerable experi- 
ments made with the air-pump. Mice, rats, rabbits, cats, 
dogs, &c. when placed in an exhaufted receiver, inftantly 
become reftlefs, and difcover fymptoms of pain. Their 
bodies fwell, and their life is foon extinguished. Indeed, 
our own feelings are fufficient to afcertain this fact. Nq 
perfon can remain long either in a (late of infpiration or ex- 
piration without being fuffocated. 

But the alternate motions of infpiration and expiration, 
joined to the circulation of the blood through the lungs, may 
be confidered as the more mechanical effects of refpiration. 
Though thefe operations are abfolutely necerTary to the ex- 
iftence of animals, yet the air itfelf has been fuppofed to im- 
part fome vital principle to the blood, without which life, 
could not be continued. 

The ingenious Doctor Crawford, in his treatife on Animal 
Heat, has rendered it probable, that the refpiration of air is 
the caufe of that vital warmth without which no animal can 
exift. After mentioning a well known fact, that all bodies, 
whether animate or inanimate, contain a certain quantity of 
fire as a principle in their compcfition, the Doctor remarks, 
that this quantity, in different bodies, varies according to 
their nature or texture ; that this fire, when in a latent or 
quiefcent ftate, is termed abfolute heat *, that, when fubftances 
of different textures have a given quantity of heat thrown in- 
to them, their temperature will jpe difcovered to be different 
by the thermometer ; for the fame quantity of heat which 
raifes one body to a certain degree, will raife another to ?. 



114 THE PHILOSOPHY 

greater or a lefs ; and this different difpofition of bodies is 
called their capacity of containing abfolute heat. 

Doctor Crawford next endeavours to prove by experi- 
ments, that, when phlogifton is added to any body, its ca- 
pacity of containing abfolute heat is diminifhed ; and that, 
when phlogifton is abftracted from the fame body, its capaci- 
ty of receiving abfolute heat is augmented. Hence he in- 
fers, that heat and phlogifton feem to conftitute two oppo- 
fite principles in nature. By the action of heat upon bodies, 
the force of their attraction to phlogifton is diminifhed > 
and, by the action of phlogifton, a part of the abfolute heat, 
which exifts in every fubftance as an element, is expelled. 
« Hence/ fays the Doctor, e animal heat feems to depend 
' upon a procefs fimilar to a chemical elective attraction. 

* The air is received into the lungs, containing a great quan- 

* tity of abfolute heat. The blood is returned from the ex- 

* tremities, highly impregnated with phlogifton. The at- 
c traction of the air to the phlogifton is greater than that of 
c the blood. This principle will therefore leave the blocd to 
c combine with the air. By the addition of the phlogifton, 
c the air is obliged to depofit a part of its abfolute h 

< as the capacity of the blood is, at the fame moment, in- 
c creafed by the reparation of the phlogifton, it will inftantly 
c unite with that portion of heat which had been detached 

< from the air. 

< We learn from Doctor Prieftley's experiments with ref- 
e pedt to refpiration, that arterial blood has a ftrong attrac- 
c tion to phlogifton : It will, confequently, during the cir- 

< culation, imbibe this principle from thofe parts which re- 

< tain it with the leaft force, or from the putrefcent parts of 

* the fyftem : And hence the venous blood, when it returns 

* to the lungs, is found to be highly impregnated with phlog- 

< ifton. By this impregnation, its capacity for containing 

* heat is diminifhed. In proportion, therefore, as the blood. 



OF NATURAL HI3TORT. 115 

* which had been dephlogifticated by the procefs of refpira- 
1 tion, becomes again combined with phlogifton, in the 

< courfe of the circulation, it will gradually give out that heat 
c which it had received in the lungs, and diffufe it over the 

* whole fyftem.*' 

The Doctor afterwards proceeds to aflign a reafon why 
the heat of animals is always equal. « As animals,' fays he, 

* are continually abforbing heat from the air, if there were 
c not a quantity of heat carried off, equal to that which is 

< abforbed, there would be an accumulation of it in the ani- 
« mal body. The evaporation from the furface, and the cool- 

* ing power of the air, are the great caufes which prevent 

* this accumulation. And thefe are alternately increafed 

* and diminifhed, in fuch a manner as to produce an equal 

* effect. When the cooling power of the air is diminifhed 
« by the fummer heats, the evaporation from the furface is 
« increafed \ and when, on the contrary, the cooling power 

* of the air is increafed by the winter colds, the evaporation 

* from the furface is proportionally diminifhed f,' 

This theory, though not fupported by mathematical evi- 
dence, is not only ingenious, but feems to make a nearer ap- 
proach to truth than any that has hitherto been invented J. 

Refpiration, beiide being the probable caufe of the equable 
continuation of heat in animals, produces many other faluta- 
ry and ufeful effects in the oeconomy of animated bodies. 
There is a moft intimate connection between the act of ref- 
piring and the circulation of the blood. When refpiration 
is, for a fhort time, interrupted by the fumes of burning ful* 

* Crawford on Animal Heat, pag. 73. f Ibid. pag. 84. 

\ If the reader is defirous of feeing fome pertinent remarks on Doclror 
Crawford's Theory of Animal Heat, he may confult Doctor Gardiner's Obfer- 
▼ations on the Animal Oeconomy, and on the Caufes and Cure of Difeafes, an 
ingenious and ufeful performance, lately pubiifaed, and which merits much more 
attention from Philofophers and Phyficiaiw U»o it ha? hitherto received, 



116 THE PHILOSOPHY 

phur, by mephitic air, or by remaining Tome minutes under 
water, the action of the heart ceafes. But, in many cafes of 
this kind, the motion of the heart may, and frequently has 
been renewed, by blowing air into the lungs, and by the ap- 
plication of flimulating fubftances to different organs of the 
body. In perfons feeaiingly dead from a temporary fufpen- 
fion of refpiration, if the lungs can be excited to a<ft, the mo- 
tion of the heart inftantly commences, the circulation of the 
blood is reftored, and life is recovered. This intimate con- 
nection between refpiration and the action of the heart, is 
one of thofe aftonifhing facts in the animal oeconomy, the 
caufes of which will perhaps forever elude the keenefl re- 
fearches of the human intellect. All we know is, that cer- 
tain functions are indifpcnlible to the exiftence of animals, 
and that, if any of them are fufpended for a few feconds, 
life is extinguifhed ; namely, the action of the brain and 
nerves, the circulation of the blood, refpiration, and a pro- 
bable refult of refpiration, animal heat. Thefe functions, 
from their importance in the fyftem, have received the ap- 
pellation of vital functions. There are other functions of the 
body, called natural, which are no lefs neceffary to life, as 
the digeftion and concoction of aliment, the various fecre-. 
tions and excretions. But they are diftinguifhed from the 
vital functions, becaufe fome of them may be fufpended for 
a confiderable time without materially injuring the body. 

Refpiration commences inftantly after birth, and is inftinc- 
tively continued during life. In the foetus ftate, as formerly 
mentioned*, refpiration is unnecefTary, becaufe the circula- 
tion of the general mafs of blood is carried on through a dif- 
ferent channel. In the act of infpiration, we are confeious 
of making a certain effort \ but in. the act of expiration we 
fcarcely perceive any exertion whatever. 

^ * See above, page 66. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 117 

Befide the circulation of the blood, and the continuation 
of the vital warmth, refpiration gives rife to many other im- 
portant functions in the animal ©economy. All animals who 
refpire, befide a watery vapor, exhale great quantities of me- 
phytic or corrupted effluvia, which, if retained in the lungs, 
or breathed by other animals, would foon prove fatal. The 
mufcles of refpiration, of which we have the command, are 
employed in many other operations of the body, befide the 
mere act of breathing air. All animals furnished with lungs 
exprefs their wants, their affections and averfions, their 
pleafures and pains, either by words, or by founds, peculiar 
to each fpecies. Thefe different founds are producer 1 by 
ftraitening or widening the glottis and wind-pipe, or, in 
general, the pafTage through which the air pa&j in refpira- 
tion. The inferior animals are by this means enabled to ex- 
prefs themfelves, though not by articulate founds, in fucn a 
manner as to be perfectly intelligible to every individual of 
a fpecies. On man alone, Nature has beftowed the faculty 
of fpeaking, or of expreffing his various feelings and ideas, 
by a regular, extemive, and eftablifhed combination of arti- 
culate founds. To have extended this faculty to the brute 
creation, would not, it is probable, have been of any ufe to 
them -j for, though fome animals can be taught to articulate, 
yet, from a defect in their intellect, none of them feem to 
have any idea of the proper meaning of the words they utter. 
Speech is performed by a very various and complicated ma- 
chinery. In fpeaking, the tongue, the lips, the jaws, the 
whole palate, the nofe, the throat, together with the muf- 
cles, bones, &c of which thefe organs are compofed, are all 
employed. This combination of organs we are taught to 
ufe when fo young that we are hardly confeious of the la- 
borious talk, and far lefs of the manner by which we pro- 
nounce different letters and words. The mode of pronounc- 
ing letters and words, however, may be learned by attentive- 

P 



118 THE PHILOSOPHY 

\y obferving the different organs employed by the fpeaker- 
By this means we are enabled to correct various defects of 
fpeech, and even to teach the dumb to fpeak ; for dumbnefs 
is feldom the effect of imperfection in the organs of fpeech, 
but generally arifes from a want of hearing ; and it is im- 
poffible for deaf men to imitate founds which they never 
heard, except they be taught to ufe their organs by viflon 
and by touching. 

.When about to laugh, we make a very full infpiration, 
which is fucceeded by frequent, interrupted, and fonorous 
expirations. When the titillation is great, whether it arifes 
from the mind or body, thefe convullive expirations fome- 
times interrupt the breathing to fuch a degree as to endan- 
ger fuffocation. Moderate laughing, on the contrary, pro- 
motes health : By agitating the whole body, it quickens the 
circulation of the blood, gives an inexprellible chearfulnels 
to the countenance, and banifhes every kind of anxiety from 
the mind. 

In weeping, we employ nearly the fame organs as in laugh- 
ing. It commences with a deep infpiratien, which is fuc- 
ceeded by fhort, broken, fonorous, and difagreeable expira- 
tions. The countenance has a difmal afpect, and tears are 
poured out. Weeping originates from grief, or other pain- 
ful fenfations either of body or mind : When full vent is 
given to tears, grief is greatly alleviated. Both laughing 
and weeping have been reckoned peculiar to man. But 
this notion feems not to be well founded. Though the 
other animals exprefs not their pleafures or pains in the fame 
manner as we do, yet all of them exhibit their pleafant or 
painful feelings by fymptoms or cries, which are perfectly 
underftood by the individuals of each fpecies, and, in many 
inftances, by man. A dog, when hurt, complains in the bit- 
tereft terms ; and, when he is afraid, or perhaps melancholy, 
he expreffcs the iituation of his mind by the moil deplora- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 119 

ble howlings. A bird, when fick, ceafes to ilng, droops the 
wing, abftains from food, aiiumes a lurid afpect, utters me- 
lancholy, weak cries, and exhibits every mark of depreffed 
fpirits. By this means, animals intimate the auiilance they 
require, or foften thofe who maltreat them. Their plain- 
tive cries are fometimes fo affecting as to diiarm their ene- 
mies, or procure the aid of their equals. On the other 
hand, when animals are pleafed or careffed, they di (cover, by 
their countenance, by their voice, by their movements, une- 
quivocal fymptoms of chearfuinefe and alacrity of mind. 
Thus the expreffions of pleafure and pain by brute animals, 
though not uttered in the precife manner with thofe of the 
human fpecies, are perfectly analogous, and anfwer the fame 
intentions of Nature. 

By refpiration, and the infrruments employed in the per- 
formance of it, the larger animals are not only brought forth, 
but are enabled to extract: milk from the breafts of the 
mother. By refpiration, odors are conveyed to the nofe ; 
coughing, fneezing, yawning, fighing, finging, vomiting, and 
many other functions in the animal oeconomy, are at leau: 
partly accomplished. 

After this general view of the refpiration of man and of 
quadrupeds, we proceed, according to the method laid down, 
to give fome account of the fame function in the other clafTes 
of animals. 

With regard to birds, though, like other land-animals, 
they refpire by means of lungs, Nature has enabled them to 
tranfmit air to almoft every part of their bodies. The lungs 
of birds are fo firmly attached to the diaphragm, the ribs, 
the fides, and the vertebrae, that they can admit of very lit- 
tle dilatation or contraction. Inftead of being impervious, 
the fubftance of the lungs, as well as of the diaphragm, to 
which they adhere, is perforated with many holes or pafiag* 



120 THE PHILOSOPHY 

es for the tranfmiffion of air to the other parts of the body*. 
To each of thefe perforations a difcind"r. membranous bag is 
joined. Thefe bags are extremely thin and tranfparent. 
They extend through the whole of the abdomen, are attach- 
ed to the back and fides of that cavity, and each of them re- 
ceives air from their refpe&ive openings into the lun~s. The 
cells in birds which receive air from the lungs are found not 
only in the foft parts, but in the bones. That ingenious and 
accurate anatomift, Mr. John Hunter of London, remarks, 
that the bones of birds which receive air are of two kinds : 
( Some, as the fternum, ribs, and vertebrae, have their inter- 
' nal fubftance divided into innumerable cells, whilft others, 

* as the os humeri and the os femcris, are hollowed out into 
? one large canal, with fometimes a few bony columns run- 
c ning acrofs at the extremities. Bones of this kind may be 
' diftinguifhed from thofe that do not receive air by certain 
« marks : 1. By their lefs fpecific gravity : 2. By being lefs 
« vafcular, and therefore whiter : 3. By their containing lit— 
s tie or no oil, and confequently being more eafily cleaned, 
•and, when cleaned, appearing much whiter than common 

< bones : 4. By having no marrow, or even any bloody pul- 

* py fubftance in their cells : 5. By not being, in general, fo 
c hard and firm as other bones ; and, 6. By the paflage 

< that allows the air to enter the bones, which can eaiily be 
c perceived. In the recent bone we may readily difcover 
« holes, or openings, not filled with any fuch foft fubftance as 
« blood-vefTels or nerves ; and it happens that feverai of 
« thefe holes are placed together, near the end of the bone 
c which is next to the trunk of the bird ; and are diftinguifh- 

* able by having their external edges rounded off ; which is 

* not the cafe with the holes through which either nerves or 

< blood-vefTels pafs into the fubftance of the bonef. 

*This fact feems to have been fir ft mentioned by the celebrated Doctor 
Hanrey. See Harvey de Generat. Animal. Exercit. 3, 
•^ Hunter's Obfervations on certain parts of the Animal Oeccnomy, paje 79. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 12i 

Mr. Hunter afterwards informs us, that the lungs, at the 
anterior part, open into a number of membranous cells, 
which Ije upon the fides of the pericardium, and communi- 
cate with thofe of the fternum. At the fuperior part, the 
lungs open into the large cells of a loofe net-work, through 
which the wind-pipe, gullet, and large vefTels, pafs as they 
proceed to and from the heart. Thefe cells, when diftend- 
ed with air, augment confiderably the part where they are 
fituated ; and this augmentation, or fwelling, is generally a 
mark either of anger or of love. This tumefaction is remark- 
able in the turkey-cock, in the pouting pigeon, and in the 
breaft of a goofe when fhe cackles. Thefe cells communi- 
cate with others in the axilla, under the large pectoral muf- 
cle. In moil birds, the axillary cells communicate with the 
cavity of the os humeri by fmall openings in the hollow fur- E 
face near the head of that bone. In fome birds, thefe cells 
are continued down the wing, and communicate with the ul= 
na and radius ; in others, they extend even to the pinions. 
The pofterior edges of the lungs open into the cells of the 
vertebrae, into thofe of the ribs, the canal of the fpinal mar- 
row, the facrum, and other bones of the pelvis j from thefe 
parts the air finds a paffage into the thigh-bone. * Thus/ 
continues our learned and indefatigable author, ' the cells of 
<the abdomen, thofe furrounding the pericardium, thofe 
< fituated at the lower and forepart of the neck, and in the 
axilla, thofe in the cellular membrane under the pectoral 
mufcles, as well as in that which unites the fkin to the body, 
? all communicate with the lungs, and are capable of being 
? filled with air ; and again from thefe the cells of the fter- 
« num, ribs, vertebra of fhe back and loins, bones of the p&- 
« vis, the humeri, the ulna and radius, with the pinions and 
6 thigh-bones, can in many birds be furaifhed with air*.' 

• Hunter's Obfervations en certain parts of the Animal Ceconomy, page 81 



122 THE PHILOSOPHY 

Thefe facts, which our author candidly acknowledges had 
been formerly obferved, led him, in the year 1758, to make 
experiments on the breathing of birds, in order to prove the 
free communication between the lungs and the feveral parts 
of the body mentioned above. 

* Firft,' fays he, c I made an opening into the belly of a 
€ cock, and having introduced a filver canula, tied up the 
< trachea ; I found that the animal breathed by this opening, 

* and might have lived j but, by an inflamation in the bow- 
c els coming on, adhefions were produced, and the commu- 
c nication cut off. 

* I next cut the wing through the os humeri, in another 

* fowl, and tying up the trachea, as in the cock, found that 

* the air paffed to and from the lungs by the canal in this 

* bone. The fame experiment was made with the os femo- 
c ris of a young hawk, and was attended with nearly the like 

* fuccefs *.' 

The extreme Angularity of this almoft univerfal diffufion 
of air through the bodies of birds, naturally excited a defire 
to difcover what might be the intention of Nature in pro- 
ducing a ftructure fo extraordinary. Mr. Hunter firft imagi*- 
ned that it might be intended to aflift the z€t of flying, by 
increafing the volume and ftrength of the animal, without 
adding to its weight, which muft be diminifhed ; becaufe 
the fpecific gravity of the external air is fuperior to that of 
the internal air, which is rendered more rare by the heat of 
the animal's body. This opinion was corroborated, by con- 
sidering that the feathers of birds, and particularly thofe of 
the wings, contain a great quantity of air. With his ufual 
ingenuoufnefs, however, Mr. Hunter, in oppofition to his 
firft conjecture, informs us, that the oftrich, which does not 
fly, was amply provided with air-cells difperfed through its 
body ; that th« wood-cock, and fome other flying birds, were 

*. Ibid, page 82. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 12S 

not fo liberally fupplied with thefe cells as the oftrich ; and 
that the bat had no fuch peculiarity of ftructure. With re- 
gard to the oftrich, though it is not intended to fly, it runs 
with amazing rapidity, and, confequently, requires fimilar 
refources of air. 

He next conjectured, from analogy, that the air-cells in 
birds ought to be confidered as an appendage to the lungs ; 
becaufe in the fnake, viper, and feveral other amphibious 
animals, the lungs are continued, in the form of two bags, 
through the whole abdomen, the upper part of which can on- 
ly perform the office of refpiration with any degree of effect ; 
becaufe the lower part has comparatively few air-vefTels. 
The air,' fays Mr. Hunter, c muft pafs through this upper 
part before it gets to the lower in infpiration, and muft alfo 
repafs in expiration ; fo that the refpiratory furface has 
more air applied to it than what the lungs of themfelves 
could contain. There is, in fact, a great fimilarity between 
birds and that clafs of animals called amphibious ; and, al- 
though a bird and a fnake are not the fame in the conftruo 
tion of the refpiratory organs, yet the circumftance of the 
air palling in both beyond the lungs, into the cavity of the 
abdomen, naturally leads us to fuppofe, that a structure fo 
fimilar is defigned in each to anfwer a fimilar purpofe. 
This analogy is ftill farther fupported by the lungs in both 
confifting of large cells. Now, in amphibious animals, the 
ufe of fuch a conformation of lungs is evident ; for it is in 
confequence of this ftructure that they require to breathe 
lefs frequently than others. Even confidering the matter 
in this light, it may ftill, in birds, have fome connection 
with flying, as that motion may eafily be imagined to ren- 
der frequency of refpiration inconvenient, and a refervoir. 
of air may therefore become Angularly ufeful. Although 
we are not to confider this ftructure in birds to be an exten- 
sion of lungs, yet I can eafily conceive this accumulation of 



124 THE PHILOSOPHY 

air to be of great ule in refpiration ; for, as we obferved in 
the viper, that the air, in its pafTage to and from thefe cells, 
mud certainly have a confiderable effect upon the blood in 
the lungs, by allowing a much greater quantity of air to 
pafs in a given time, than if there was no fuch conftruction 
of parts. And this opinion will not appear to be ill found- 
ed, if we confider, that, both in the bird and the viper, the 
furface of the lungs is fmall in comparifon to what it is in 
many other animals which have not this extension of cavi- 
ty. We muft not, however, give up the idea of fuch ftruc- 
ture being of ufe in flying ; for I believe we may fet it down 
as a general rule, that, in the birds of longeft and higheft 
flight, r.s eagles, this extension, or diffufion of air, is carried 
farther than in the others ; and this opinion is ftrengthen- 
ed, by comparing this ftructure with the refpiratory or- 
gans in the flying infects, which are compofed of cells dif- 
fufed through the whole body *, and thefe are extended 
even into the head r.nd down the extremities, while there 
is no fuch ftruc~iure in thofe that do not fly, as the fpider,' Sec. 
Though Mr. Hunter's modefty has not permitted him to 
draw his concluflon in a pofitive manner, he feems to have 
proved decidedly, that one ufe of the general diffufion of air 
through the bodies of birds is to prevent their refpiration 
from being flopped or interrupted by the rapidity of their mo- 
tion through a refilling medium. The refinance of the air 
increafes in proportion to the celerity of the motion. Were 
it poflible for man to move with a fwiftnefs equal to that of 
a fwallow, the refiftance of the air, as he is not provided with 
internal refervoirs fimilar to thofe of birds, would foon fuffo- 
cate him. Neither does the difficulty he mentions, with re- 
gard to the ftructure of the oflrich, feem to contradict his 
theory ; for though, as formerly remarked, the oftrich does 
not fly, he runs with aftoniihing rapidity. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 125 

The refpiration of air is not only necefTary to the exift- 
tnce of land-animals, but to that of fishes of every denomi- 
nation. Coetaceous fifhes, or thofe of the whale -kind, ref- 
pire, like man and quadrupeds, by means of lungs ; and, of 
courfe, they are obliged, at certain intervals, to come to the 
furface, in order to throw out the former air, and to take in 
a frefh fupply. 

Inftead of lungs, the other fpecies of fifhes are furnifhed 
with gills, through which they refpire both water and air ; 
for air is univerfally diffufed or mixed with every portion of 
water. When a free communication with the external air is 
prevented by ice, or by artifice, fifhes immediately difcover 
fymptoms of uneafinefs, and foon perifh. ^Elian informs us, 
that, in winter, when the river Ifler was frozen, the fifhers 
dug holes in the ice ; that great numbers of fifhes reforted 
to thefe holes ; and that their eagernefs was fo great, that 
they allowed themfelves to be feized by the hands of the 
fifhermen. Rondeietius made many experiments on this 
fubjecT:. If, fays he, fifhes are put into a narrow-mouthed 
vefTel filled with water, and a communication with the air be 
preferved, the animals live, and fwim about, not for days and 
months only, but for leveral years. If the mouth of the vef- 
fel, however, be fo clofely fhut, either with the hand, or any 
other covering, that the pafiage of the air is excluded, the 
fifhes fuddenly die. Immediatsly after the mouth of the 
vefTel is clofed, the creatures rufh tumultuoufly, one above 
another, to the top, contending which of them mail fooneft 
receive the benefit of the air*. In the fhallow parts of riv- 
ers, when frozen, many fifhes are found dead. But, when 
parts of a river are deep or rapid, the fifhes fly from the ice, 
and by this means avoid deftrucYion. 

Thefe, and fimilar experiments, have been repeated by 3Vuv 
Willoughby, and many other authors ; and they have uni- 

* Rondeietius, lib. 4. cap. 9. 

Q 



i2tJ THE PHILOSOPHY 

formly been attended with the fame event. A carp, in a 
large veflel full of water, was placed in the receiver of an 
air-pump. In proportion as the air was exhaufted by work- 
ing the pump, the furface of the animal's body was covered 
with a number of bubbles. The carp foon breathed quicker, 
and with more difficulty : A little after, it rofe to the fur- 
face in queft of air. The bubbles on its furface next difap-^ 
peared ; the belly, which before was greatly fwollen, fudden- 
ly collapfed ; and the animal funk to the bottom, and expir- 
ed in convulfions. 

Thus the refpiration of air is as necefTary to the exiftenctf 
of fifties as to that of land-animals ; for none of them can 
live long when deprived of this vivifying element. Fifties, 
indeed, feem to require a fmaller quantity of air than ani- 
mals who have a conftant and free communication with the 
atmofphere. The bodies and fluids of fifties are colder than 
thofe of land-animals •, and, of courfe, if Doctor Crawford's 
theory be well founded, fifties require lefs air to fupport the 
proportionally fmall quantity of heat they pofTefs. 

An analogy between fifties and birds deferves here to b« 
noticed. Both of thefe clalTes of animals are rapid in their 
motions ; and both of them, befide refpiring by lungs or 
gills, have receptacles of air within their bodies. Fifties 
tranfmit fmall quantities of air through their gills- ; but Na- 
ture has provided moil of them with air-bags or bladders, 
which may anfwer the double purpofe of enabling them to 
afcend and defcend in the water, and to communicate a vital 
principle to their whole fyftem. 

We ftiall conclude this fubject with an account of the 
modes employed by Nature for tranfmitting air into the bo- 
dies of INSECTS. 

In this feemingly contemptible, and often noxious clafs of 
animals, Nature has exhibited a wonderful diverfity of form, 
©f manners, of inftincts, of deformity, and of beauty. But, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 1?7 

however infignificant thefe creatures may appear to inatten-f 
tive obfervers, Nature has been equally provident in the for- 
mation of their bodies, and in the means of preferving the 
different individuals, according to their kinds, as in the 
larger animals, which have the appearance of more import- 
ance in the fcale of being. To infects fhe has denied lungs 
fimilar to thofe of men, quadrupeds, birds, and fifties ; but, 
as the tranfmiffion of air into their bodies was necelTary to 
continue the principle of life, fhe has furnifhed them with 
peculiar inftruments and apparatus for accomplifhing this in- 
difpenfible purpofe. 

Air is conveyed into the bodies of infects by inftruments 
called tracheae or Jligmata. The tracheae, or wind-pipes, are, 
in many infects, long tubes protruding externally from differ- 
ent parts of the body. In fome, they proceed from the 
pofterior part, and have the appearance of one, two, or three 
tails -, in others, they arife from the back or fides. The 
ftigmata are fmall holes, generally of a different colour from 
the reft: of the body, and run along the fides of many cater- 
pillars in regular and beautifully dotted lines. That theie 
tracheae and ftigmata are deftined for the tranfmiflion of air, 
has been proved by repeated experiments j for, when flopped 
up by the application of oil, or other unctuous fubftances, the 
animals foon loofe their exiftence. 

In contemplating the parts of animals, when the ufes of 
thefe parts are not apparent, we are apt to deceive ourfelves 
by rafhly fuppofing them to anfwer purpofes for which they 
were never intended by Nature. Impreffed with this idea, 
M. de Reaumur was not fatisfied with the notion of Goedart 
and others, that the long tails of certain worms were intend- 
ed to keep them fteady in their motions, and to prevent 
them from rolling. Reaumur obferved, that thefe worms 
or grubs could lengthen or fhorten their tails at pleafure, 
but that they were always longer than the animal's body. 



12$ THE PHILOSOPHY 

Becaufe thefe tails have fome refemblance to that of a rat, 
he diftinguifhes the animals by the name of rat-tailed worms. 
Thefe worms are aquatic, and never appear on dry ground 
till they are about to undergo their firft transformation. 
Reaumur, in order to obferve their oeconomy more clofely, 
Collected a number of rat-tailed worms, and put them into aglafs 
vefTel filled two inches high with water. At firft they were 
confiderably agitated, each feemingly fearching for a prope/ 
place of repofe. Some of them fwam acrofs, others attached 
themfelves to the fides, and others refted at the bottom of 
the vefTel. In a quarter of an hour they were almoft entirely 
tranquil, and Reaumur foon difcovered the real ufe of their 
long tails. Upon examining the vefTel, he found that each 
of the animals, in whatever iituation they were placed, ex- 
tended its tail exactly to the furface •, that, like other aquatic 
infects, the refpiration of air was necefTary to their exift- 
ence \ and that the tail, which is tubular, and open at the 
extremity, was the organ by which this operation was per- 
formed. In this experiment, the diftance from the bottom 
to the furface was two inches, and, of courfe, the tails were 
of an equal length. To difcover how far the animals could 
extend their tails, this moft ingenious and indefatigable phi- 
lofopher gradually augmented the height of the water, and 
the tails uniformly rofe to the furface till it was between five 
and fix inches high. When the water was raifed higher, 
the animals immediately quitted their ftation at the bottom, 
and either mounted higher in the water, or fixed upon the 
fides of the vefTel, in fituations which rendered it conve- 
nient for them to reach the furface with the points of their 
tails. Thefe tails confift of two tubes, both of which are 
capable of extenfion and contraction. The firft tube is al- 
ways vifible ; but the fecond, which is the proper organ of 
refpiration, is exferted only when the water is raifed to a cer- 
tain height. Through this tube the air is conveyed into 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 129 

two large tracheae or wind-pipes within the body of the ani- 
mal, and maintains the principle of life. When the tails are 
below the furface, they occaiionally emit fmall bubbles of 
air, which are vifible to the naked eye ; and immediately re- 
pair to the furface for frefh fupplies. Thefe rat-tailed worms 
pafs the firft and longeft part of their lives under water ; 
when near the time of their transformation, they leave the 
water, go under the ground, and are there tranformed into 
chryfalids j and, laftly, from this ftate they are transformed 
into flies, and fpend the remainder of their exiftence in the 
air. 

Another fpecies of aquatic worms merit attention. They 
frequent marfhes, ditches, and ftagnating waters. Their gen- 
eral colour is a greenifh brown. Their bodies confift of 
eleven rings *, and their {kin is not cruftaceous, but rather 
refembles parchment. Though thefe animals, before their 
transformation into flies, live in water, air is neceiTary to fup- 
port their principle of life j and the apparatus with which 
Nature has furnifhed them for that important purpofe de-r 
ferves our notice. The laft ring, or termination of their 
bodies, is open, and ferves as a conductor of air. From this 
laft ring proceed a number of hairs, which, when examined 
by the microfcope, are found to be real feathers with regu- 
lar vanes. In particular fituations, they bend the laft ring 
in fuch a manner as to reach the furface of the water or 
mud in which they are placed. Thefe feathers prevent the 
water from entering into the tube, or organ of refpiration ; 
and, when the animal raifes the termination of its body to 
the furface, in order to receive air, it erects and fpreads the 
feathers, and by this means expofes the end of the tube to 
the atmofphere. When cautioufly cut open, two large ve£- 
fels, or tracheae, appear on each fide, and occupy almoft one 
half of the body. Both of thefe wind-pipes terminate in the 
open tube, or laft ring. Though thefe worms sre furnifhed 



130 THE PHILOSOPHY 

with organs of refpiration, and actually refplre air, yet M. de 
Reaumur difcoverered that fome of them could live more 
than twenty-four hours without refpiration. 

So anxious is Nature to provide animals, in every ftate of 
their exiftence, with air, that, after the transformation of 
many infects into chryfalids, fhe creates inftruments for that 
purpofe, which did not exift previous to their transforma- 
tion. The rat-tailed worms, formerly mentioned, foon after 
they are transformed into chryfalids, inftead of a foft pliable 
fkin, are covered with a hard cruftaceous fubftance, feeming- 
ly impervious to the air ; and the tail, which was the wind- 
pipe of the animal in its firft ftate, gradually vanifhes. In a 
few hours, however, four hollow horns fhoot out, two from 
the fore, and two from the hind, part of what was the head 
of the animal. Thefe horns, which are hard and tubular, 
M. de Reaumur difcovered to be real wind-pipes, deftined 
for the introduction of air into the chryfalis, a ftate in which 
the animals have the appearance of being almoft totally dead, 
and, of courfe, fhould feem to have little ufe for refpira- 
tion. He likewife difcovered that thefe horns, which had 
pierced the hard exterior covering, terminated in as many 
tracheae in the body of the animal. This fact affords a 
ftrong example of the neceffity of air for fuftaining the prin- 
ciple of life, even in its loweft condition. After thefe ani- 
mals pafs from the chryfalis ftate to that of flies, they are 
deprived both of their tails and horns. But Nature, in this 
laft ftage of their exiftence, has not left them without proper 
refources for the introduction of air into their bodies. In- 
ftead of protuberant tracheae in the form of tails or horns, 
they now, like other flies, receive air by means of ftigmata, 
©r holes, varioufly difpofed over different parts of the body. 

The nymph of the libella, or dragon-fly, refpires water, 
jn the fame manner as men and quadrupeds refpire air. We 
receive and throw out the air by the mouth and noftrils. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 131 

But the nymphs of the libella receive and eject water by ari 
aperture at the termination of their bodies. Thefe nymphs 
fometimes throw out the water, at certain intervals, with 
fuch force, that the ftream is perceptible at the diftance of 
two or three inches from their bodies. When kept fome 
time out of water, the defire or neceffity of refpiration is 
augmented ; and, accordingly, when replaced in a veflel fil- 
led with water, infpirations and refpirations are repeated 
with unufual force and frequency. If you hold one of thefe 
nymphs in your hand, and apply drops of water to the pofte- 
rior end of its body, it inftantly, by an apparatus fimilar to 
the pifton of a pump, fucks in the water, and the dimenfions 
of its body are vifibly augmented. This water is again 
quickly thrown out by the fame inftrument. But, though 
this infect refpires water, air feems to be not the lefs necef- 
fary to its exiftence ; for, like other infects, the whole inte- 
rior part of its body is amply provided with large and con- 
voluted tracheae ; and, externally, there are feveral ftigmata 
deftined for the introduction of air*. 

The worms, or nymphs, of the ephemeron flies merit at- 
tention. They have received the denomination of ephemeron , 
becaufe almoft none of them furvive the day in which they 
are transformed into flies. But many of them live not one 
hour after their transformation. When in the worm and 
nymph ftates, they generally live in holes near the furface of 
the water ; and, under thefe two forms, continue to grow 
till they are mature for pafflng into the laft and fhorteft pe- 
riod of their exiftence. Swammerdam informs us, that fome 
of them remain three years under water, others two, and 
others one only. During their abode in this element, they 
are nourished and prepared for their laft and fatal change. 
Immediately after the males have joined their mates, and the 
female^ have depofited their eggs in the water, both perifll* 
* Reaumur, torn, i%, page 187. 12010 edition. 



132 THB PHILOSOPHY 

but not before they have left the rudiments of a numerous 
race of fucceftbrs. As long as thefe infects live in the water, 
to inattentive obfervers, their general appearance is nearly 
the fame. When they have paiTed, however, into nymphs, 
the veftiges of wings may be perceived, which we look for 
in vain during their firft or worm ftate. In both ftates, the 
infect which is to become an ephemeron fly has fix legs at- 
tached to the bread. The head is triangular, and from the 
bafe of each eye proceeds an articulated feeler. The body 
-is compofed of ten rings, from the laft of which three tails, 
that probably perform the office of tracheae, arife. Thefe 
tails, in fome fpecies, are as long as the animal's body, and 
are fringed with hairs which have a refemblance to feathers. 
But what principally deferves our notice on this fubject is, 
•that, on each fide of the body, there are fix or feven protu- 
berances, which have the appearance of fo many oars. With 
thefe inftruments the animals defcribe arches in the water, 
firft on one fide, and then on the other, with aftonifhing ra- 
pidity. This circumftance led Clutius, and fome other 
authors, to think that thefe protuberances were fins, or in- 
ftruments of motion, and that the animals were fifhes. But 
Reaumur remarked that they moved thefe fins with the 
fame rapidity when the animals were at reft as when they 
were in motion j and that, inftead of fins, when examined 
by the microfcope, he difcovered them to be gills, through 
which the creatures refpire. Each gill confifts of a fhort 
trunk, and two large branches, or tubes, which give off on 
all fides a number of fmaller ramifications, and are perfectly 
fimilar to the tracheae of other infects. At the origin of 
every gill, two tracheae penetrate the trunk, and are difperf- 
ed through the body of the animal. 

Though the ftigmata, or refpiratory organs, of caterpillars 
and other infects, were long known to ferve the purpofe of 
infpiration, yet it was uncertain whether the animals refpired 



©F NATURAL HISTORY. .133 

by the fame orifices, till Bonnet, and, after him, Reaumur, 
afcertained the fact by many curious and accurate experi- 
ments. The firft of thefe authors immerfed numbers of 
caterpillars, of different kinds, and at different times, in 
Water, and he obferved, both with the naked eye, and by the 
afliftance of a glafs, bubbles of air iffuing from various parts 
of their bodies, and particularly from the ftigmata. To re- 
move all deception from his experiments before immerfion, 
he carefully moiftened the caterpillars with water, in order 
to diflodge any portions of the external air that might be ad- 
hering to their bodies. Some of them he allowed to remain 
fo long under water, that they had every appearance of death. 
He then raifed the head and the two anterior ftigmata above 
the furface. The head, and firft pair of legs, foon began to 
move from fide to fide ; and the body necelTarily partook of 
the fame motions. During thefe movements, many bubbles 
of air iflued from the pofterior and intermediate ftigmata, 
.which ftill remained under water ; but the membranous limbs 
continued nearly at reft. He next kept a caterpillar under 
water till all motion was fufpenc'ed. Then he elevated the 
anus and the two laft ftigmata above the furface, that they 
might have a communication with the external air. He 
kept the animal in this fituation about half an hour, without 
. any fymptoms of re-animation. After railing the body fuo 
.ceffively from the laft to the firft pair of ftigmata, ftill the 
animal exhibited no fymptoms of life \ but, when he expos- 
ed the whole body to the external air for half an hour, the 
powers of life completely returned. After fufpending the 
caterpillar about two hours with the laft five pair of ftigma- 
ta above the furface, he found that life was not extinguifhed. 
He then raifed the water till the anus and laft pair of ftigma- 
ta only were expofed to the atmofphere. He allowed the 
caterpillar to remain In this fituation more than half an hour ; 
and he obferved that it often bended its body with a view to 

R 



I34« THE PHILOSOPHY 

reach the furface, and that, during thefe efforts, bubbles of 
air iffued from the anterior, but not from the pofterior ftig- 
mata. He likewife remarked, that, on the fmalleft motion 
of the animal, thefe bubbles were difcharged, but that they 
were augmented both in quantity and fize, in proportion to 
the agitations of the body. M. Bonnet immediately raifed 
the water till it covered the two laft ftigmata ; the caterpil- 
lar was violently agitated ; but no bubbles of air, the com- 
munication being cut off, appeared, and all motion ceafed. 
He inftantly lowered the water, and expofed the two pofte- 
rior ftigmata to the air ; the animal refumed its movements ; 
but in a moment after it expired. By another experiment, 
M. Bonnet difcovered that a caterpillar lived eight days fuf- 
pended in water, during all which time it breathed folely by 
the two pofterior ftigmata. 

After thefe, and many other facts of a fimilar kind, which 
demonftrate that air is neceffary for the fupport and contiua- 
tion of animal life, it ftiall only be remarked, that, when cat- 
erpillars undergo their laft change, and appear in the form 
of flies of every denomination, Nature has ftill furnifhed them 
with ftigmata, or refpiratory organs. 

Reptiles of all kinds are likewife furnifhed with organs of 
refpiration. Land-fnails, at the approach of winter, bury 
themfelves in the earth, or retire into holes of rocks, or of 
old buildings, where they remain in a torpid ftate during the 
feverity of the feafon. For protection and warmth, thefe 
animals, when they go into their winter habitations, form, by 
means of a {lime or faliva that iiTues from every pore of their 
bodies, a membranous cover which ftops up the mouths of 
their fhells. But this pellicle or cover, though apparently 
pretty hard and folid, is fo thin and porous as not entirely to 
exclude the entrance of air, without which the principle of 
life could not be continued. Accordingly, when, by acci- 
dent the pellicle is made too thick, and prevents a communi- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 3* 

cation with the external air, the animal, to remedy the evil, 
makes a fmall aperture in its cover. In this ftate lhails re- 
main fix or feven months, without food or motion, till the 
genial warmth of the fpring breaks their flumber, and calls 
forth their active powers. Hence it fhould appear, that air is 
more necefiary to the prefervation of animal life than food 
itfelf 5 for, in numberlefs inftances, animals can live, not for 
days or weeks, but for months, without fupplies of nour- 
ifhment. None of them, however, are capable of exifting 
nearly fo long without having fome communication with 
the air. 

With regard to fnails that live in frefh waters, or in the 
ocean, the fpecies of which are numerous, their manner of 
refpiring is lingular. All of them have an aperture on the 
right fide of the neck. This aperture ferves the complicat- 
ed purpofes of difcharging the faeces, of lodging the organs 
of generation, of afcending and defcending in the water, 
and of refpiration. They are frequently obferved to ftrait- 
en the orifice of this aperture, to flretch it out in the form 
of an oblong tube *, and, in this ftate, they rife to the fur- 
face, in order to expel the former air, and take in a new 
fupply. 

But, though air feems to be an indifpenfible principle of 
animal life, yet many animals can live longer without the ufe 
of this element, or at leaft with fmaller quantities of it, than 
others. Even men, by long practice, acquire the faculty of 
retaining the air in their lungs for an almoft incredible length 
of time. Some of thofe wretched creatures who are com- 
pelled by tyranny to dive for pearl-oyfters, have been known 
to continue under water three quarters of an hour without 
receiving a frelh fupply of air. Thofe animals which lie 
torpid during the winter, as the hedge-hog, the dormoufe, 
the marmot, Sec. though perhaps not entirely deprived of all 
communication with the air> exift, without any apparent 



136 THE PHILOSOPHY 

breathing, till the heat of the fpring reftores their wonted 
powers of life, when the refpiration of air becomes again 
equally neceffary as before their torpor commenced. The 
toad, like all the frog-kind, is torpid in winter. At the ap- 
proach of winter, the toad retires to the hollow root of a tree, 
to the cleft of a rock, and fometimes to the bottom of a ditch 
or pond, where it remains for months in a ftate of feeming in- 
fenfibility. In this laft fituation, it can have very little com- 
munication with the air. But flill the principle of life, is 
continued, and the animal revives in the fpring. What is 
more wonderful, toads have been found, in a hundred places 
of the globe, inclofed in the heart of folid rocks, and in the 
bodies of trees, where they have been fuppofed to exift for 
centuries, without any apparent accefs either to nourifhment 
or to air j and yet they were alive and vigorous. In the 
Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences for the year 1719, we 
have an account of a toad found alive, and healthy, in the 
heart of an old elm. Another, in the year 1731, was dis- 
covered, near Nantz, in the heart of an old oak, without any 
vifible entrance to its habitation. From the fize of the tree, 
it was concluded, that the animal muft have been confined in 
that fituation at leafl eighty or a hundred years. In the 
many examples of toads found in folid rocks, exact impref- 
iions of the animals bodies, correfponding to their refpective 
fizes were uniformly left in the flones or trees from which 
they were diflodged ; and, to this day, it is faid, that there is a 
marble chimney-piece at Chatfworth with a print of a toad 
in it ; and a traditionary account of the place and manner in 
which it was difcovered. 

Thefe, and fimilar facts, are fupported by authorities fo 
numerous and fo refpectable, that it is unnecefTary to quote 
them. Many abortive attempts have been made to account 
for an animal's growing and living very long in the fituations 
above defcribed, without the poffibility of receiving nourifh- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 157 

merit or air* ; efpecially as, like all other animals, when put 
into an exhausted receiver, the toad foon lofes its existence. 
Upon this fubject I fhall only hazard two obfervations. The 
toad, it is well known, when kept in a damp place, can live 
feveral months without food of any kind, though, in its ftate 
of natural liberty, it devours voracioufly fpiders, maggots, 
ants, and other infects. Here we have an inftance, and there 
are many, of an animal whofe constitution is fo framed by 
Nature, that it can exift feveral months without receiving 
any portion of food. According to our ideas of the neceility 
of frequent fupplies of nourishment, it is nearly as difficult 
for us to conceive an abstinence of four or fix months as one 
of as many years, or even centuries. The one fact, there- 
fore, though we are unable to account for either, may be as 
readily admitted as the other. "The fame remark is equally 
applicable to the regular refpiration of air. The toad, and 
many other animals, from fome peculiarity in their confti* 
tution, can live very long in a torpid ftate without feeming 
to refpire, and yet their principle of life is not entirely extin- 
guished. Hence the toad may, and actually does, live many 
years in Situations which exclude a free intercourfe with the 
external air. BeSides, almolt all the above, and fimilar facts, 
muft, from their nature, have been difcovered by common 
labourers, who are totally unqualified for examining every 
circumltance with the difcerning eye of a philofopher. In 
rocks there are many chinks, as well as Mures, both hori- 
zontal and perpendicular •, and in old trees nothing is more 
frequent than holes and vacuities of different dimensions. 
Through thefe filTures and vacuities the eggs of toads may ac- 
cidentally be conveyed by water, the penetration of which 
few fubftances are capable of reliSting. After the eggs are 
hatched, the animals may receive moiflure, and fmall por- 
tions of air, through the crevices of rocks, or the channels 
of aged trees. But I mean not to perfuade j for I cannot 



108 ^THE PHILOSOPHY 

fatisfy myfelf. All I intend is to recommend, to thofe gen* 
tlemen who may hereafter chance to fee fuch rare phae- 
nomena, a ftrict examination of every circumftance that can 
throw light on a fubject fo dark and myfterious ; for the 
vulgar, ever inclined to render uncommon appearances ftill 
more marvellous, are not to be trufted. 

From the facts I have enumerated, it is apparent that air, 
in certain proportions, according to the ftructure and con- 
futation of every animated being of which we have any 
knowledge, is indifpenfibly necefTary for the exiftence and 
continuation of animal life. Not only men, quadrupeds, 
birds, fifhes, reptiles, and the larger infects, but even fleas, 
mites, the minute eels found in pafte or in vinegar, and the 
animalcules produced by inflating animal or vegetable fub- 
ftances in water, inevitably perifh when deprived of this all- 
vivifying element. 

With regard to plants, air is fo necefTary to their exiftence* 
that they do not vegetate in an exhaufted receiver. Plants, 
as formerly mentioned, are furnifhed with numerous air- 
vefTels, or refpiratory organs. They abforb and tranfmit air 
through every pore. When placed in an exhaufted receiver, 
the air contained in every part of their fubftance is foon ex- 
tracted ; and, in proportion as this air is likewife pumped out 
by the machine, the flowers and leaves fhow evident fymp- 
toms of debility ; they become flaccid, pendulous, and aflume 
a flckly appearance *, and, if retained in that fituation a cer- 
tain length of time, their vegetating powers are irrecoverably 
extinguifhed. 

Upon the whole, as the air we continually breathe is an 
univerfal menftruum, and, of courfe, liable to be impregnat- 
ed with exhalations, from every fubftance to which it has ac- 
cefs, the great importance of a perfonal, as well as of dorceftic 
cleanlinefs, is an obvious reflection. In building towns or 
Houfes, the fituation, with regard to air, is a capital objeft. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 139 

The vicinity of mar flies, of £agnating waters, of manufac- 
tures of tallow, oil, fal ammoniac, the fmelting or corroding 
of metals of every kind, and many other operations which 
contaminate the air, fhould be either avoided or removed, 
as they are the pefls of our fenfes, and the poifoners of our 
confutations. Even in northern climates, houfes furrounded. 
with trees, or in the neighborhood of luxuriant vegetables, 
are always damp, and infefted with infects j and hence the 
ambient air is replete with the feeds of difeafe. Precautions 
of this kind are ftill more neceffary in hot climates. Air, 
like other menftruums, abforbs a greater or lefs proportion 
of the particles of bodies, according to its degree of heat. 
In Madrid, however, in Conftantinople, and in many other 
cities of warm regions, the houfes are crouded together, the 
ftreets are narrow, and covered with filth of every kind. We 
cannot, therefore, be furprifed, that human beings exifting in 
fuch fituations fhould be fo frequently infected with peftilen- 
tial difeafes. 



140 THE PHILOSOPHY 

CHAPTER IV. 

Of Motion. 

JVlOTION, in the opinion of Ariftotle, and the 
admirers of ancient philofophy, can only be produced by 
mind ; and hence they define mind to be the power of mov- 
ing. By the fame mode of reafoning, it may be faid that refl y 
or inactivity , is the power of being moved. But fuch fpeculations 
are foreign to the nature of this work, and perhaps fruitlefs 
in themfelves. Though it is impofiible to give an unexcep- 
tionable definition of motion, the phaenomenon ^tfelf is ob- 
vious to every man's fenfes. 

All the terreftrial objects which prefent themfelves to our 
obfervation are, with regard to motion, diftinguifhable into 
two general claffes. The firft confifts of thofe which are 
endowed with a fpontaneous or felf-moving power, and with 
fome qualities and affections fimilar to thofe of our minds. 
The fecond confifts of all thofe objects in which no fuch 
qualities and affections appear, and are of a nature fo paflive, 
that they never move of themfelves, nor, when put in mo- 
tion, do they ever flop without fome external influence or 
refiftance. The firft clafs of objects, from their poffefling 
the power of fpontaneous motion, and other qualities pecu- 
liar to animated beings, are eaiily diftinguifhed from body, 
or matter, which is totally deprived of all thefe qualities. 
In confequence of its paflive nature, matter not only never 
changes its ftate without external force, but refifts when any 
fuch change is attempted to be made. When at reft, it can- 
not be put in motion without difficulty ; and, when in mo- 
tion, a certain force is required to ftop its courfe. The 
force with which matter perfeveres in its ftate, and refifts 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 141 

any change, is called its vis inertiae, and is always propor- 
tional to the quantity of matter in any particular body. 
When we double or triple a body, we uniformly find, that 
the force requilite to move it with equal celerity muft like- 
wife be doubled or tripled. Thefe, and flmilar facts, which 
are refults of perpetual experience, fliow that body is equal- 
ly indifferent to motion and reft ; that this indifference 
feems to be the natural confequence of the moft abfolute 
inactivity ; and that the power of beginning motion is pe- 
culiar to active and intelligent beings. Leaving, therefore, 
all metaphyseal fpeculations on this fubject, we fhall give 
fome remarks upon the motions of animals. 

In general, all the progreffive motions of animals are per- 
formed by the inftrumentality of mufcles, tendons, and arti- 
culations. The operation of mufcles depends upon fome 
unknown influence derived to them from the brain and 
nerves. Hence the brain and nerves are the fources of every 
motion as well as of every fenfation. With regard to the 
caufes which determine the actions of animals, thefe muft be 
referred to fenfation, and the confequent exertions of intel- 
lect. The firft impreffion an object makes upon our fenfa- 
tions ftimulates us either to approach or retire from it, ac- 
cording as it excites affection or averfion. Thefe motions 
neceffarily refult from the firft impreffion made by the ob- 
ject. But man, and many other animals, have the power of 
refifting thefe original motives to action, and of remaining 
at reft, without either retiring or approaching. « If a man,' 
fays the Count de Buffon, c were deprived of fight, he 
« would make no movement to gratify his eyes. The fame 

< thing would happen, if he were deprived of any of the 
! other fenfes ; and, if deprived of every fenfe, he would 

* remain perpetually at reft, and n© object would excite him 

* to move, though, by natural conformation, he were fully 

< capable of motion/ Natural wants, as that of taking nour- 

S 



1V2 THE PHILOSOPHY 

i foment, neceffarily excite defire or appetite. But, \i a man 
be deprived of fenfation, want cannot exift, becaufe all its 
fources are annihilated. This is cutting off all the caufes, 
and at the fame time looking for the effects. An animal 
without fome fenfation is no animal, but a dead mafs of mat- 
ter. Sentiment is the only ftimulus to animal motion j the 
aptnefs of the parts produces the effect, which varies accord- 
ing to the ftructure and deftination of thefe parts. The 
fenfe of want creates defire. Whenever an animal perceives 
an object fitted to fupply its wants, defire is the neceffary 
eonfequence, and action or motion inftantly fucceeds. 

Befide progreflive motion, the motion of hands, and other 
parts of animal bodies, which are all effected by means of 
mufcles, and are fubjedt to the will of the creatures who per- 
form them, there are other motions that have little or no 
dependence on our inclinations. Of this kind are the action 
of the heart, the circulation of the blood, the digeftion of 
food, the periftaltic motion of the bowels, the progrefs of 
the chyle from the ftomach and inteftines to the fubclavian 
vein, the movement of the various fecreted liquors, fuch as 
the- gall, the urine, the faliva, &c. Thefe, together with the 
action of the lungs in refpiration, have received the denomi- 
nation of vital and involuntary motions, becaufe molt of them 
go on without any confcious exertions of the intellectual 
principle. If fuch a variety of nice and complicated move- 
ments had been left to the determination and direction of 
our minds, they muft neceffarily have occupied too much of 
our attention; and many of them would infallibly have been 
neglected during fleep, when confcioufnefs is often almoft 
totally fufpended. But Nature in her operations is always 
wife. She has given to man, and other animals, the direc- 
tion of no movements but what are eafily performed, con- 
tribute to pleafure and health, and enable them to acquire 
food correfponding to the ftructure of their bodies and the 
elements in which they live. 



• OF NATURAL HISTORY. 14,3 

It never was my intention, and, indeed, it would have 
been foreign to the defign of this work, and ill fuited to that 
clafs of mankind to whom I wifli chiefly to be ufeful, to en- 
ter into the rationale of animal motion ; to mention the num- 
ber, infertion, and direction, of the mufcles employed in 
moving the different parts of animated bodies ; or to ac- 
count for the modes by which animals walk, leap, fly, fwim, 
creep, &c. Such difcuffions would not only require a 
volume, but a thorough acquaintance with all the depths of 
anatomical and mathematical knowledge. What follows, 
therefore, will confift of fome defultory obfervations j and 
the fubject fhali be concluded by enumerating a few exam- 
ples of movements peculiar to certain animals. 

The motions of animals are proportioned to their weight 
and ftructure. A flea can leap fome hundred times its own 
length. Were an elephant, a camel, or a horfe, to leap in 
the fame proportion, their weight would crufh them to 
atoms. The fame remark is applicable to fpiders, worms, 
and other infects. The foftnefs of their texture, and the 
comparative fmallnefs of their fpecific gravity, enable them 
to fall with impunity from heights that would prove fatal to 
larger and heavier animals. 

Motion gives birth,, perfection, death, and reproduction, 
to all animal and vegetable beings. It is the catife of all 
that diverfity and change which perpetually affect every ob- 
ject: in the univerfe. The globe we inhabit, as well as the 
innumerable and ftupendous heavenly bodies which prefent 
themfelves, in forms apparently minute to our obfervation, 
conftantly exhibit motions of the moil inconceivable rapidi- 
ty. The magnitude of this earth, when confidered with re- 
lation to man, and other animals, appears to be exceedingly 
great. It is indeed fufficiently fpacious, and fufficiently pro- 
lific, for the conveniency and maintenance of its inhabitants. 
The magnificent objects difplayed on its furface excite the 



144 THE PHILOSOPHY 

admiration of every beholder. Its plains and mountains, its 
rivers and lakes, its iflands and continents, its feas and oceans, 
continually folicit attention, gratify curiofity, and call forth 
the powers of reafon and reflection. But, when compare^ 
to the other heavenly bodies, the number and magnitude of 
which exceed all the powers of human conception, the gran- 
deur of our earth diminifhes. Inftead of exciting wonder, 
it almoft vanifhes from our fight. Inftead of an immenfe 
globe, it dwindles into a point, feems to occupy nofpace, and 
lofes itfelf in the boundlefs regions of the univerfe. Con- 
siderations of this kind are apt to deprefs the dignity of 
man, and to lefTen his importance in the great fcale of be- 
ing •, but they expand his mental faculties, and exalt his 
ideas concerning that inconceivable Power which firft pro- 
duced, and ftill fupports, thofe aftonifhing orbs. 

The different movements to which animals are ftimulated 
by the defire of food, by love, by the appetite for frolic and 
exercife, by their hoflilities, and by other exciting caufes, 
give animation and vivacity to the whole fcene of nature. 
A filent and motionlefs profpect, however beautiful and va- 
riegated, foon ceafes to pleafe, and at laft becomes infupport- 
able. Motion, fays Mr. Harris, is the object or caufe of all 
fenfation. In mufic we hear it ; in favours we tafte it ; in 
odors we fmeli it ; in touch we feel it ; in light we fee it. 

Animals furnifhed with deftrudtive weapons, or endowed 
with uncommon ftrength, courage, or ingenuity, are propor- 
tionally flower in their movements than the weaker kinds. 
The fame remark is applicable to thofe fpecies whofe food is 
always at hand. Worms, caterpillars, and many other in- 
fects, in order to procure nouriihment, are under no necefli- 
ty of taking an extenflve range. But the motions of birds 
and fifties are extremely rapid j becaufe, in queft of food, 
they are obliged to pafs through large tracks, and they have 
alfo many enemies to avoid. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 145 

Timid animals, as the hare,, the rabbit, the Guiney-pig, 
Sec. are almoft perpetually in motion. Even when perfectly 
undifturbed, they are reftlefs, and betray a continual anxiety 
of danger. They run about, flop ihort, erect their ears 
and liiten. The Guiney-pig frequently raifes itfelf on its 
hind legs, and fnuiis all around to catch the (cent of food 
when hungry, or to increafe its circle of hearing when afraid. 

The movements of many animals are fo extremely flow, 
that fome of them, particularly thofe of the fhell tribes, are 
generally fuppofed to be deilitute of the power of moving. 
It is a common notion, that both frefh and fait water riiuf* 
cles have not the locomotive faculty. But this is a vulgar 
error. It is almoft unneceffary to mention, that the exte* 
rior part of mufcles confifts of two {hells hinged together^ 
which the animals can open or fhut at pleafure. Every per* 
fon ffliift likewife have obferved, in the ftruclure of the ani- 
mal itfelf, a fleiliy protuberance of a much redder colour, 
and denfer confiflence, than the other parts of the body. 
This mufcular protuberance, which confifts of two lobes, has 
been denominated a trunk, or tongue : But it is an inftru- 
ment by which the creature is enabled to perform a pro,- 
greflive, though a very flow motion ; and, therefore, in de- 
ferring its manner of moving, I fhall call thefe two lobes, 
the animal's tentacula, or feet. 

When inclined to remove from its prefent fituation, the 
river-mufcle opens its fhell, thrufts out its tentacula, and, 
while lying on its fide in an horizontal pofition, digs a fmall 
furrow in the fand. Into this furrow, by the operation of 
the fame tentacula, the animal makes the fhell fall, and thus 
brings it into a vertical pofition. We have now got our muf- 
cle on end ; but how is he to proceed ? He ftretches forward 
his tentacula, by which he throws back the fand, lengthens 
the furrow, and this fulcrum enables him to proceed on his 
journey. 



146 THE PHILOSOPHY 

"With regard to marine mufcl'es, their progrefiive motion 
is performed rn the fame manner, and by the fame inflru- 
ments. When not in motion, they are all firmly attached to 
rocks, or fmall ftones, by many threads of about two inches 
in length, which ferve the double purpofes of an anchor and 
cable, without this provifion of Nature, thefe animals muft 
become the fport of the waves, and the fpecies would foon be 
annihilated. But, how does the creature fpin thefe threads ? 
A cylindrical canal extends from the origin to the extremi- 
ty of the tentacula. In this canal an extremely glutinous 
fubftance is fecreted, which the animal, by the operation of 
certain mufcles, has the power of forcing out, and of attach- 
ing it, in the form of ftrong threads, to ftones or other folid 
bodies. More than a hundred and fifty of thefe cables are 
often employed in mooring a fingle mufcle *. The fub- 
ftance of the threads is exceedingly vifcous, indigeftible in 
the human flomach, and is probably the caufe of thole 
fatal confequences which fometimes happen to inattentive 
eaters. In Scotland, thefe threads are called the beards of 
mufcles, and fhould be carefully pulled off before the animals 
are thrown into the flomach. 

Other bivalved fhell-fifhes, the fpecies of which are nu* 
rrverous, perform a progreflive or retrograde motion by an in- 
ftrument that has no fmall refemblance to a leg and foot. 
But the animals can, at pleafure, make this leg afTume almofr. 
every kind of form, according as their exigencies may re- 
quire. By this leg they are not only enabled to creep, to fink 
into the mud, or difengage themfelves from it, but to per- 
form a motion, which no man could fuppofe fhell-fifhes were 
capable of performing. When the tellina, or limpin, is about 
to make a fpring, it puts the fhell on the point or fummit, as 
if with a view to diminifh friction. It then ftretches out the 
)eg as far aspoffible, makes it embrace a portion of the fhell, 
* Oenvres de Bonnet, torn. 5. pag. 361. 4to edit, 



0*F NATURAL HISTORY. 147 

and, by a fudden movement, fimilar to that of a fpring let 
lOofe, it ftrikes the earth with its leg, and actually leaps to a 
considerable diftance *. 

The fpout-fifli f has a bivalved (hell, which fefembles the 
handle of a razor. This animal is incapable of progreffive 
motion on the furface ; but it digs a hole or cell in the fand, 
Sometimes two feet in depth, in which it can afcend and de- 
fcend at pieafure. The inftrument or leg by which it per- 
forms all its movements is fituated at the centre. This leg 
is flefhy, cylindrical, and pretty long. When necefTary, the 
animal can make the termination of the leg afFume the form 
of a tall. The fpout-fifh, when lying on the furface of the 
fand, and about to fink into it, extends its leg from the infe- 
rior end of the 'fhell, and makes the extremity of it take on the 
form of a Shovel, fharp on each fide, and tetminating in a 
point. With this instrument the animal cuts .a hole in the 
fand. After the hole is made, it advances the leg Still far- 
ther into the fand, makes it affume the form of a hook, and 
with this hook, as a felcrum^ it obliges the fhell to defcend 
into the hole. In this manner the animal operates till the 
fhell totally difappears. When it choofes to regain the fur- 
face, it puts the termination of the leg into thefhape of a ball* 
and makes an effort to extend the whole leg ; but the ball 
prevents any farther defcent, and the mufcular effort neceffa- 
rily pufhes the fhell upward till it reaches the furface, or top 
of the hole. l It is amazing with what dexterity and quick- 
nefs thefe feemingly awkward motions are performed. 

It is remarkable that the fpout-fifh, though it lives in fait 
water, abhors fait. When a little fait is thrown into the 
hole, the animal inftantly quits his habitation, But it is ftiil 
more remarkable, that, if you feize the animal with your 
hand, and afterwards allow it to retire into its cells you may 
ftrew as much fait upon it as you pleafe, but the fifh will never 

* Oeuvresde Bonner, torn. 5, pag. 341. 4*0 edit. 

I The name of the animal in Scotland, In England it is called razor-fifk. 



14*8 THE PHILOSOPHY 

again make its appearance. If you do not handle the ani* 
mal, by apply iug fait, you may make it come to the furface 
as often as you incline ; and fifhermen often make ufe of 
this ftratagem. This behaviour indicates more fentiment 
and recollection than one fhould naturally expect from a 
fpout-fifh. 

The fcallop, another well known bivalved fhell-fifh, has 
the power of progreflive motion upon land, and likewife of 
fwimming on the furface of the water. When this animal 
happens to be deferted by the tide, it opens its fhell to the 
full extent, then (huts it with a fudden jerk, by which it often 
rifes five or fix inches from the ground. In this manner it 
tumbles forward till it regains the water. When the fea is 
calm, troops, or little fleets of fcallops, are often obferved 
fwimming on the furface. They raife one valve of their fhell 
above the furface, which becomes a kind of fail, while the 
Other remains under the water, and anfwers the purpofe of 
an anchor, by fteadying the animal, and preventing its being 
overfet. When an enemy approaches, they inftantly fhut 
their (hells, plunge to the bottom, and the whole fleet difap- 
pears. By what means they are enabled to regain the fur- 
face, we are flill ignorant. 

With regard to the locomotive faculty of the oyfter, the 
following facts are recorded in the Journal de Phyfique by 
the Abbe Dicquemare. Like many other bivalved fhell-fifh, 
the oyfter has the power of fquirting out water with a con- 
fiderable force. By thus fuddenly and forcibly ejecting a 
quantity of water, the anisnal repulfes fuch enemies as en- 
deavour to infinuate into its fhell while open. By the fame 
operation, if not firmly attached to rocks, to ftones, or to one 
another, the oyfter retreats backwards, or ftarts to a fide in 
a lateral direction. Any perfon may amufe himfelf with the 
fquirting and motions of oyfters, by putting them in a plate 
fituated in a horizontal pofition, and which contains as much 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 149 

fea-water as is fufficient to cover them. The oyfter has been 
reprefented by many authors as an animal deftitute not only 
of motion, but of every fpecies of fenfation. The Abbe Dic- 
quemare, however, has fhown, that it can perform movements 
perfectly confonant to its wants, to the dangers it apprehends, 
and to the enemies by which it is attacked. Inftead of being 
deftitute of all fenfation, oyfters are capable of deriving 
knowledge from experience. When removed from fitua- 
tions which are conftantly covered with the fea, devoid of ex- 
perience, they open their fhells, lofe their water, and die in 
a few days. But, even when taken from fimilar fituations, 
and laid down in places from which the fea occafionally re- 
tires, they feel the effects of the fun's rays, or of the cold 
air, or perhaps apprehend the attacks of enemies, and accor- 
dingly learn to keep their fhells clofe till the tide returns. 
Conduct of this kind plainly indicates both fenfation and a 
degree of intelligence. 

The progreflive motion of the fea-urching, or fea-egg, a 
well known multivalved fhell-fifh, merits our attention. This 
animal, of which there are feveral fpecies, is round, oval, or 
fhaped like a bias-bowl. The furface of the fhell is divided 
into beautiful triangular compartments, and covered with 
numberlefs prickles ; from which laft circumftance it has re- 
ceived the appellation of fea-urchin^ or fea-hedge-hog. Thefe 
triangles are feparated by regular belts, and perforated by a 
great number of holes. Each hole gives lodgment to a flefhy 
horn fimilar to thofe of the fnail, and fufceptible of the fame 
movements. Like the fnail, the fea-urchin ufes its horns 
when in motion ; but their principal ufe is to fix the animal 
to rocks, ftones, or the bottom of the ocean. By means of 
the horns and prickles, which proceed from almoft every 
point of the fhell, the fea-urchin is enabled to walk either on 
its back or on its belly. The limbs it moft generally employs 

are thofe which furround the mouth. But, when it choofes^ 

T 



150 THE PHILOSOPHY 

it can move forward, by turning on itfelf like the wheel of a 
coach. Thus the fea~urchin furnifhes an example of an ani- 
mal employing many thoufand limbs in its various move- 
ments. The reader may try to conceive the number of muf- 
cles, of fibres, and of other apparatus, which are requifite to 
the progreffive motion of this little animal. 

The motion of that fpecies of medufa, or fea-nettle, 
which attaches itfelf to rocks, and to the larger fbell-fifh, is 
extremely flow. The fea-nettles afiiime fuch a variety of 
figures, that it is impoffible to defcribe them under any de- 
terminate fhape. In general, their bodies have a refemblunce 
to a truncated cone* The bafe of the cone is applied to the 
rock or other fubftance to which they adhere. With r 
to colour, fome of them are red, fome greenijli, fome wt 
and others are brown. When the mouth, which is very 
large, is expanded, its margin is furrounded with a 
number of fleiliy filaments, or horns, fimilar to thofe of L he 
fnail. Thefe horns are difpofed in three rows around the 
mouth, and give the animal the appearance of a flower. 
Through each of thefe horns the fea-nettle fquirts water, 
like fo many jets-d'eau. What is peculiar in the ftru&ure 
of thefe creatures, the whole inte ior part of their body or 
cone, is one cavity or ftomach. When fearching for food, 
they extend their filaments, and entangle any fmall animals 
they encounter. When they meet with their prey, they in- 
fhmtly fwallow it, and {hut their mouths clofe like a purfe. 
Though the animal fhould not exceed an inch, or an inch 
and a half, in diameter, as it is all mouth and flcmach, it 
iws large whelks and mufcles. Thefe fhell-animals 
fometimes remain many days in the ltomach before they are 
ejected. Their nutrifymg parts are at laft, however, ex- 
tracted ; but how does the fea-nettie get quit of the iheil ? 
The creature has no other aperture in its body but the mouth, 
and this mouth is the inftrument by which it both receives 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 151 

nourishment, and difcharges the excrement, or unprofitable 
part of its food. When the fhell is not too large, the fea-net- 
tle has the power of turning its inficle out, and by this fcrange 
manoeuvre the fhell is thrown out of the body, and the ani- 
mal refumes its former ftate. But, when the fhell prefents 
itfeif in a wrong pofition, the animal cannot discharge it in 
the ufual manner \ but, what is extremely lingular, near the 
bafe of the cone, the body of the creature fplits, as if a large 
wound had been made with a knife, and through this gafh 
the fhell of the mufcle, or other fhell, is ejected. 

With regard to the progreflive motion of the fea-nettle, it 
is as flow as the hour-hand of a clock. The whole external 
part of its body is furnifhed with numerous mufcles. Thefe 
mufcles are tubular, and filled with a fluid, which makes 
them project, in the form of prickles. By the inflrumentali- 
ty of thefe mufcles, the animal is enabled to perform the 
very flow motion jure now mentioned. But this is not the 
only means by which the fea-nettle is capable of moving. 
When it pleafes, it can ioofen the bafe of the cone by which 
it is attached to the rock, reverfe its body, and employ the 
filaments round its mouth as fo many limbs. Still, however, 
its movements are imperceptibly flow. For thefe facts feve- 
ral authors might be quoted j but we fhall refer the reader 
folely to M. de Bonnet *. 

Before we conclude this chapter, we fhall juft mention a 
mode of flying which is peculiar to certain infects. The 
mafin-hee^ which is one of the folitary fpecies, has received 
that appellation, becaufe it conftructs a neft with mud or 
mortar. Externally, this neft has no regular appearance ; 
and is, therefore, generally regarded as a piece of dirt acci- 
dentally adhering to a wall. This habitation, however un- 
feemly in its exterior afpect, is furnifhed with regular 
cells, and often gives rife to great conflicts. When the real 
* Oeuvres de Bonnet, 4to edit. torn. 5, page 345, 



152 THE PHILOSOPHY 

proprietor is abroad in queft of materials to finifh the neft, a 
ftranger takes pofleflion. At meeting, a battle always en- 
fues. This battle is fought in the air. Sometimes they fly 
with fuch rapidity and force againffc each other, that both 
parties fall to the ground. But, in general, like birds of 
prey, the one endeavours to rife above the other, and to 
give a downward blow. To avoid the ftroke, the under- 
raoft, inftead of flying forward or laterally, is frequently ob- 
ferved to fly backward. This retrograde flight is like wife 
performed occafionally by the common houfe-fly, and feme 
other infects, though we are unable to perceive what ftimu- 
lates them to employ this uncommon movement. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 153 



CHAPTER V. 



Of the Injlincl of Animals — Divifwn of Injlincls — Examples of 
Pure Injlincl: — Of fuch Injlincls as can accommodate them- 
felves to peculiar circumjlances and fituations — Of Injlincls- 
improveable by obfervation and experience — Some remarks and 
conclujions from this view of Infincl. ~ 

1\jL ANY theories have been invented with a view- 
to explain the inftinctive actions of animals •, but none of them, 
have received the general approbation of Philofophers. This 
want of fuccefs in the inveftigation of a fubject fo curious and 
fo interefting rauft be owing to the operation of fome pow- 
erful caufes. Two of thefe caufes appear to be a want of at- 
tention to the general oeconomy and manners of animals, 
and miftaken notions concerning the dignity of human na- 
ture. From peruflng the compofitions of more, authors who 
have written upon animal inftinct, it is evident, that they 
have chiefly derived their ideas, not from the various mental 
qualities difcoverable in different fpecies of animals, but 
from the feelings and propenfities of their own minds. Some 
of them, at the fame time, are fo averfe to allow brutes a 
participation of that intellect which man pofTefTes in fuch an 
eminent degree, that they confider every animal action tQ 
be the refult of pure mechanifm. But the great fource of 
error on this fubject is the uniform attempt to diftinguiili 
inftinctive from rational motives. I {hall, however, endea- 
vour to fhow that no fuch diftinction exifts, and that the. 
reafoning faculty itfelf is a neceffary refult of inftinct. 

The proper method of inveftigating fubjects of this kind, 
is to collect and arrange the facts which have been difcover- 
ed, and to consider whether thefe facts lead to any general 
conclulions. This method I have adopted j and £hall there- 



154 THE PHILOSOPHY 

fore exhibit examples of pure inftincts ; of fuch inftincts as 
can accommodate themfelves to peculiar circumftances and 
fituations ; and of inftincts improveable by cbfervation and 
experience. In the laft place, I fhall draw fome conclu- 
fions. 

I. Of Pure biJlinBs. 

By pure inftincts, I mean thofe, which, independent of all 
inftruction or experience, inftantaneoufiy produce certain 
actions when particular objects are prefented to animals, or 
when they are influenced by peculiar feelings. Of this 
clafs the following are examples. 

In the human fpecies, the inftinct of fucking is exerted 
immediately after birth. This inftincl is not excited by any 
fmell peculiar to the mother, to milk, or to any other fub- 
ftance ; for infants fuck indifcriminately every thing brought 
into contact: with their mouths. The defire of fucking, 
therefore, is innate, and coeval with the appetite for air. 

The voiding of urine and excrement, fneezing, retraction 
of the mufcles upon the application of any painful ftimulus, 
the moving of the eye-lid:, and other parts of the body, are 
likewife effects of original inftincts, and eflential to the ex- 
iftence of young animals. 

The love of light is exhibited by infants at a very early 
period. I have remarked evident fymptoms cf this attach- 
ment on the third day after birth. "When children are far- 
ther advanced, marks of the various pafiions gradually appear. 
The paflion of fear is difcoverable at the age of two months. 
It is called forth by approaching the hand to the child's eye, 
and by any fudden motion or unufual roife. I once infti- 
tuted a courfe of experiments to afcertain the periods when 
the various pafiions, principles, or propenfities, of the hu- 
man mind are unfolded* and to mark the caufes which firft 
produced them. But, in lefs than five months after the 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 155 

birth of the child, the bufinefs became too complicated and 
exteniive for the time I had to bellow* on fubjects of this 
nature. 

The brute creation affords innumerable examples of pure 
inftincts. 

When caterpillars are fliaken off a tree in every direction, 
all of them inftantly turn toward the trunk, and climb up, 
though they had never formerly been on the furface of the 
ground. 

Young birds open their mouths upon hearing any kind 
of noife, as well as that of their mother's voice. They have 
no apprehenfions of harm ; neither do they offer to ufe 
their wings till they acquire more ftrength and experience. 
The lion's cub is not ferocious till he feels force and activity 
•for de'ftruction. 

Infects invariably depofit their eggs in Situations mod fa- 
vourable for hatching and affording nourifhment to their 
future progeny, Butterflies, and other infects, whofe off- 
fpring feed upon vegetables, uniformly fix their eggs upon 
fuch plants as are mcft agreeable to the palate and conftitu- 
tion of their young. Water infects never depofit their eggs 
on dry ground. I have feen butterflies which had been 
transformed in the houfe exhibit marks of the greateftuneafi- 
nefs becaufe they could not find a proper nidus for their 
eggs ; and, when every other refource failed, they pafted the 
eggs on the panes of the window. 

Some fpecies of animals look not to future wants. Others, 
as the bee and the beaver, are endowed with an inftinct 
which has the appearance t of forefight. They conftruct 
magazines, and fill them with provifions. 

The common bees attend the female, or queen, do her 
many little fer vices, and even feed her with honey from 
their trunks*. When deprived of the female, all their la-. 

* Reaumur, lamp edit, vol- 9. page 300. 



156 THE PHILOSOPHY 

bours ceafej-, till a new one is obtained, whom they treat 
with much refpect, and renew their ufual operations J. They 
make cells of three different dimeniions, for holding work- 
ers, drones, and females ; and the queen-bee, in depofiting 
her eggs, diftinguifhes the three different kinds, and never 
puts a royal or a drone egg into the cells deftined for the re- 
ception of the working bees. What is equally Angular, the 
number of thefe cells is proportioned to that of the different 
bees to be produced. One royal cell weighs as much as one 
hundred of the common kind §. When there are feveral 
females in a hive, the bees work little till they have deftroy- 
ed all the females but one. If more than a fingle female 
were allowed to remain in a hive, a greater number of eggs 
would be laid than the working bees are able to make cells 
for receiving them. 

The wood-piercing bee, which is one of the folitary fpe- 
cies, gnaws with amazing dexterity and perfeverance, a large 
hole in old timber. After laying her eggs in the cells, fhe 
depofits fuch a quantity of glutinous matter as nouriflies the 
worms produced from thefe eggs till the time of their trans- 
formation into flies. She then paftes up the mouth of the 
hole, and leaves her future offspring to the provifion fhe 
has made for them. 

The bees of that fpecies which build cylindrical nefts with 
rofe-leaves, exhibit a very peculiar inftincl:. They firft dig a 
cylindrical hole in the earth. When that operation is finiih- 
ed, they go in queff of rofe-bufhes ; and, after felecting 
leaves proper for their purpofe, they cut oblong, curved, and 
even round pieces, exactly fuited to form the different parts 
of the cylinder||. 

The folitary wafp digs holes in the fand. In each hole fhe 
depofits an egg. But how is the worm, after it is hatched, 
to be nourifhed ? Here the inftincl of the mother merits 

f Ibid, page 3 20. }■ Ibid, page 340. 

^ Ibid. torn. 10. page 124. \\ Reaumur, torn. II. page 138. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 157 

attention. Though {he feeds not upon flefh herfelf, and 
certainly knows not that an animal is to proceed from the egg, 
and far lefs that this animal muft be nourifhed with other 
animals, fhe collects ten or twelve fmall green worms, which 
fhe piles one above another, rolls them up in a circular 
form, and fixes them in the hole in fucha manner that they 
cannot move. When the wafp-worm is hatched, it is amply 
ftored with the food Nature has deftined for its fupport. 
The green worms are devoured in fucceffion* j and the num- 
ber depofited is exactly proportioned to the time neceffary 
for the growth and transformation of the wafp-worm into a 
fly, when it ifTues from the hole, and is capable of procuring 
its own nourifhmentf . 

There are many other inftances of ichneumon wafps 
and flies, which, though they feed not themfelves upon 
worms, lay up provisions of thefe animals for the nourifh- 
ment of their young ; and each kind is adapted to the 
conftitution of the worm that is to proceed from their eggs |. 
Birds of the fame fpecies, unlefs when reftrained by pecu- 
liar circumftances, uniformly build their nefts of the fame 
materials, and in the fame form and fituation, though they in- 
habit very different climates. When removed by neceffity 
from their eggs, they haften back to them with anxiety. 
They turn and fhift their eggs, which has the effect of heat- 
ing them equally. Ducks and geefe cover up their eggs till 
they return to the neft. A hen fits with equal ardour upon 
eggs of a different fpecies, or even upon -artificial eggs. I 
have often contemplated with wonder an inftinct of the fwal- 
low. When her offspring are very young, like other fmall 
birds, fhe carries their excrements out of the neft. But, after 
they are older, fhe attaches herfelf to the fide of the neft, 
and, by fome geftures and founds, folicits the young to void 

* Reaumur, torn. t-2. page 18. f Tbid. page &2. — }i, 
J Reaumur, torn, 11. pa£. 38, 

¥ 



158 THE PHILOSOPHY 

their excrements : One of them immediately turns round,, 
elevates its hind parts above the edge of the neft, makes the 
proper effort, and the mother, before the dung is half pro- 
truded from the anus, lays hold of it with her bill, drags it 
out, carries it off, and drops it at a diftance from the neft. 
In all thefe operations, men recognife the intentions of 
Nature ; but they are hid from the animals who perform 
them. 

The fpider, the dermeftes, and many infects of the beetle 
kind, exhibit an inftinct of a very uncommon nature. When' 
put in terror by a touch of the finger, the fpider runs off with 
great fwiftnefs : But, if he finds, that, whatever direction he 
takes, he is oppofed by another finger, he then feems to def- 
pair or being able to efcape, contracts his limbs and body, 
lies perfectly motionlefs, and counterfeits every fymptom of 
death. In this fituation I have pierced fpiders with pins, and 
torn them to pieces, without their difcovering the fmallefl 
mark of pain. This irmulation of death has been afcribed to 
a ftrong convulfion, or ftupor, occafioned by terror. But this 
folution of the phaenomenon is erroneous. I have repeated- 
ly tried the experiment, and uniformly found, that, if the 
object of terror be removed, in a few feconds the animal 
runs off with great rapidity. Some beetles, when counter- 
feiting death, fuffer themfelves to be gradually roafted, with- 
out moving a fingle joint. 

It is unneceffary to give more examples of pure inftinclsi 
I fhall therefore proceed to the fecond clafs, namely, 

II. Of Infintls which can accommodate themfelves to peculiar 
circumfances andftuations. ' 

To this clafs many human inftincts may be referred. But, 
as thefe inftinctive propensities are likewife highly im- 
proveable by experience and obfervation, examples of them 
will fall more naturally to be given under the third clafs. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 159 

Thofe animals are moft. perfect whofe fphere of knowledge 
extends to the greateft number of objecls. When interrupt- 
ed in their operatons, they know how to refume their la- 
bours, and toaccomplifh their purpofes by different means. 
Some animals have no other power but that of contracting or 
extending their bodies. But the falcon | the dog, and the 
fox, purfue their prey with intelligence and addrefs. 

The oftrich has been accufed of unnaturalnefs, becaufe 
fhe leaves her eggs to be hatched by the heat of the fun. In 
Senegal, where the heat is great, flie neglecls her eggs 
during the day, but fits upon them in the night. At the 
Cape of Good Hope, however, where the degree of heat is 
lefs, the oftrich, like other birds, fits upon her eggs both 
day and night. m 

Rabbits dig holes in the ground for warmth and protec- 
tion. But, after continuing long in a dome ftic ftate, that 
refource being unnecefTary, they feldom employ this art *• 

Bees, when they have not room enough far their opera- 
tions, augment jhe depth of their honey-cells f. The fe- 
male bee, when the cells are not fufnciently numerous to re- 
ceive her eggs, lays two or three in each cell. But, a few 
days after, when the cells are increafed, the working bees re- 
move all the fupernnmerary eggs, and depofit them in the 
new conflrucled cells :f. 

When a wafp, in attempting to tranfport a dead compan- 
ion from the neft, finds the load too heavy, he cuts off its 
head, and carries it out in two portions ||. 

In countries infefted with monkeys, many birds, which, in 
other climates, build in bufhes and the clefts of trees, fufpend 
their nefts upon {lender twigs, and, by this ingenious device, 
elude the rapacity of their enemies. 

The nymphs of water- moths, commonly called cod-baity 
cover themfelves, by means of gluten, with pieces of wood, 

* Gazette Liter, torn. 3. pag, 228. j Reaumur, torn, 10. pan-. 20. 

J Ibid. pag. 243, j( Ibid. torn. 11. pag, 241, 



160 THE PHILOSOPHY 

ftraw, fmall fhells, or gravel. It is necefTary that they fhould 
always be nearly in equilibrium with the water in which they 
live. To accornplifh this purpofe, when their habitations are 
too heavy, they add a piece of wood, when too light a bit of 
gravel *• 

I had a cat that frequented a clofet, the door of which was 
fattened by a common iron latch. A window was fituated 
near the door. When the door was fhut, the cat gave her- 
felf no uneafinefs. As foon as fhe tired of her confine- 
ment, {he mounted on the fole of the window, and with her 
paw dexteroufly lifted the latch and came out. This practife 
fhe continued for years. 

Thefe examples, I hope, are fufficient. 

III. The third clafs comprehends all ihofe Infiincls which are im- 
proveable by experience and ohfervation. 

The fuperiority of man over the other animals feems to 
depend chiefly on the great number of infiincls with which 
his mind is endowed. Traces of every inftinct he pofTeffes 
stre difcoverable in the brute creation. But no particular 
fpecies enjoys the whole. On the contrary, moft animals 
are limited to a fmall number. This appears to be the rea- 
fon why the inftincts of brutes are flronger, and more fleady 
in their operation, than thofe of man. A being actuated by 
a great variety of motives mufl neceffarily reafon, or, in other 
words, hefitate in his choice. Its conduct, therefore, mufl 
often waver ; and he will have the appearance of being infe« 
rior to another creature who is ftimulated to action by a 
fmaller number of motives. Man, accordingly, has been 
confidered as the moft vacillant and inconiiflant of all ani- 
mals. The remark is juft ; but, inflead of a cenfure, it is an 
encomium on the fpecies. The actions of a dog, or. a mon- 
key, for the fame reafon, are more various, whimfical, and 
uncertain, than thofe of a fheep or a cow. 

* Bonnet, torn. 4, page. S09. Reaumur, torn. 5. pag. 215. 



Or NATURAL HISTORY. 1$1 

Moft human inftincts receive improvement from experi- 
ence and obfervation, and are capable of a thoufand modifi- 
cations. This is another fource of man's fuperiority over the 
brutes. When we are Simulated by a particular inftinct, in- 
ftead of inftantly obeying the impulfe, another inftinct 
arifes in oppofition, creates hefitation, and often totally ex- 
tinguifhes the original motive to action. The inftinct of fear 
is daily counteracted by ambition or refentment -, and, 
in fome minds, fear is too powerful for refentment, or any 
other inftinct we pofTefs. The inftinct of anger is often re- 
trained by the apprehenfion of danger, by the fenfe of pro- 
priety, by contempt, and even by companion. Sympathy, 
which is one of our moft amiable inftincts, frequently yields 
to anger, ambition, and other motives. The inftinct or 
fenfe of morality is too often thwarted by ambition, refent- 
ment, love, fear, and feveral of what I call modified or com- 
pounded inftincts, fuch as avarice, envy, &c. 

The following are examples of modified, compounded, or 
extended inftincts. 

Superftition is the inftinct of fear extended to imaginary 
objects of terror. 

Devotion is an extenfion of the inftinct of love to the Fir ft 
Caufe, or Author of the Univerfe. 

Reverence or refpect for eminent characters is a fpecies of 
devotion. 

Avarice is the inftinct of love directed to an improper 
object. 

Hope is the inftinct of love directed to future good. 

Envy is compounded of love, avarice, ambition, and fear. 

Benevolence is the inftinct of love difFufed over all ani- 
mated beings. 

Sympathy is the inftinct of fear transferred to another 
perfon, and reflected back upon onrfelves. 



162 The philosophy 

In this manner, all the modified, compounded, or extend* 
ed paffions and propenfities of the human mind, may be trac- 
ed back to their original inftincts. 

The inftincts of brutes are likewife improved by obferva- 
tion and experience. A young dog, like a child, requires 
both time and art to unfold and perfect his natural inftincts. 
If neglected by man, he learns from his companions how to 
act in particular fituations : But, when he enjoys both thefe 
fources of information, his talents are improved to a degree 
that often excites our aftonifhment. The fame remark ap- 
plies to all docile animals, as the elephant, the horfe, the cam- 
el, &c. Every man's recollection will fupply him with many 
examples of the improveable talents of brutes ; and, there- 
fore, it is unnecefTary to be more explicit. 

Having exhibited inftances of pure inftinct, of inftincts 
which accommodate themfelves to peculiar circumftances and 
fituations, and of inftincts improveable by obfervation and 
experience, I (hall now hazard a few remarks. 
• From the examples I have given, it appears that inftinct is 
an original quality of mind, which, in many animals, may be 
improved, modified, and extended, by experience ; that iome 
inftincts are coeval with birth ; and that others, as fear, anger, 
the principle of imitation, and the power of reafoning, or 
balancing motives, are gradually unfolded, according to the 
exigencies of the animal. One of the ftrongeft inftincts ap- 
pears not till near the age of puberty •, but, by bad example, 
and improper fituations, this inftinctive defire is often pre- 
maturely excited. The minds of brutes, as well as thofe of 
men, have original qualities, deftined for the prefervation of 
the individual and the continuation of the fpecies. The call- 
ing forth of thefe qualities is not extinct, but the exertion or 
energy of inftinct. Inftincts exift before they act. What 
man or brutes learn by experience, though this experience 
Jae founded on inftinct, cannot with propriety be called in* 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 163 

ftinctive knowledge, but knowledge derived from experience 
and obfervation. Inftinct fhould be limited to fuch actions 
as every individual of a fpecies exerts without the aid either 
of experience or imitation. Hence inftinct may be defined, 
* Every original quality of mind which produces particular 
c feelings or actions, when the proper objects are prefented 
< to it/ Thefe qualities or inftincts vary in particular fpecies* 
Some are endowed with many, and others with few. In 
fome they are ftronger, in others weaker *, and their ftrength 
or weaknefs feems to be exactly proportioned to their num- 
ber. The difference of talents among men who have had 
the fame culture, arifes from a bluntnefs, or abfolute depriva- 
tion of fome original or modified inftincts. Tafte, or love of 
particular objects, whether animated, inanimated, or artifi- 
cial, is in fome men fo obtufe, that we often fay it is entirely- 
wanting. Infects have fewer inftincts than men or quadru- 
peds ; but the exertions of infects are fo uniform and fteady, 
that they excite the admiration of every beholder. 

Senfation implies a fentient principle or mind. Whatever 
feels, therefore, is mind. Of courfe, the loweft fpecies of ani- 
mals are endowed with mind : But the minds of animals have 
very different powers ; and thefe powers are expreffed by pe- 
culiar actions. The ftructure of their bodies is uniformly 
adapted to the powers of their minds. We never fee a ma- 
ture animal attempting actions which Nature has not enabled 
it to perform, by beftowing on it proper inftruments. A bee 
collects the materials of honey and wax, but attempts not to 
gnaw rotten wood, like the wafp. Neither does peculiarity 
of ftructure prompt the actions of brutes. Calves pufh with 
their heads long before their horns are grown. This, and fi- 
milar examples, fhew, that the inftincts of brutes exift pre- 
vious to the expanfion of thofe inftruments which Nature in- 
tended they ibould employ. 



16*4 THE PHILOSOPHY 

This view of inftinct is fim^fc, removes every objection to 
the exiftence of mind in brutes, and unfolds all their actions, 
by referring them to motives perfectly fimilar to thofe by 
which man is actuated. There is, perhaps, a greater differ- 
ence between the mental powers of fome animals than be- 
tween thofe of man and the mod fagacious brutes. Inftincts 
may be considered as fo many internal fenfes, of which fome 
-animals have a greater, and others a fmaller number. Thefe 
fenfes, in different fpecies, are likewife more or lefs ductile 5 
and the animals poffefling them are, of courfe, more or lefs 
fufceptible of improving, and of acquiring knowledge. 

The notion that animals are machines, is perhaps too ab- 
furd to merit refutation. Though no animal is endowed with 
mental powers equal to thofe of man, yet there is not a facul- 
ty of the human mind, but evident marks of its exiftence 
are to be found in particular animals. Senfes, memory, im- 
agination, the principle of imitation, curiofity, cunning, in- 
genuity, devotion, or refpect for fuperiors, gratitude, are all 
difcoverable in the brute creation. Neither is art denied to 
them. They build in various ftyles ; they dig ; they wage 
war ; they extract peculiar fubftances from water, from plants, 
from the earth ; they modulate their voices fo as to commu- 
nicate their wants, their fentiments, their pleafures and pains, 
their apprchenfions of danger, and their profpects of future 
good. Every fpecies has its own language, which is perfect- 
ly underftood by the individuals. They afk and give aflift- 
ance to each other. They fpeak of their neceffities ; and this 
branch of their language is more or lefs extended, in propor- 
tion to the number of their wants. Geftures and inarticulate 
founds are the figns of their thoughts. It is neceffary that 
the fame fentiments fhould produce the fame founds and the 
fame movements ; and, confequently, each individual of a 
fpecies mull have the fame organization. Birds and quadru- 
peds, accordingly, are incapable of holding difcourfe to each 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 165 

other, or communicating the ideas and feelings they pofiefs 
in common. The language of gefture prepares for that of 
articulation ; and fome animals are capable of acquiring a 
knowledge of articulate founds. They firft judge of our 
thoughts by our geflures ; and afterwards acquire the habit 
of connecting theie thoughts with the language in which we 
exprefs them. It is in this manner that the elephant and the 
dog learn to obey the .commands of their matters. 

Infants are exactly in the fame condition with brutes. 
They underftand fome of our geflures and words long before 
they can articulate. They difcover their wants by geflures 
and inarticulate founds, the meaning of which the nurfe 
learns by experience. Different infants have different modes 
of expreffing their wants. This is the reafon why nurfes 
know the intentions of infants, though they are perfectly un- 
intelligible to flrangers. When an infant, accordingly is 
transferred from one nurfe to another, the former inflructs 
the latter in the geflures and inarticulate language of the 
child. 

The idea of'a machine implies a felect combination of the 
-common properties of matter. The regularity of its move- 
ments is a proof that they are totally diflinct from animal or 
fpontaneous motion. A machine has nothing analogous to 
fenfation, which is the loweft characteriflic of an animal. An 
animated machine, therefore, is an abfurd abufe of terms. * It 
confounds what Nature has diftinguifhed in the mofl unam- 
biguous manner. The inflincts of brutes are, in general, 
flronger, and lefs fubject to reftraint, than thofe of man. 
The reafon is plain : They have not an equal number of in- 
flincts to curb, counterbalance, or moderate their motives to 
particular actions. Hence they have often the appearance of 
acting by mere impulfe ; and this circumftance has led fome 
philofophers to conflder brutes as machines. But they re- 
flect not that children, favages, and ignorant men, act nearly 

W 



166 THE PHILOSOPHY 

in the fame manner. It is fociety and culture which foften 
and moderate the paffions and actions of men, as well as thofe 
of docile animals. 

Brutes, like men, learn, to fee objects in their proper po- 
rtion, to judge of diftances and heights, and of hurtful, 
pleafureable, or indifferent bodies. Without fome portion of 
reafon, therefore, they could never acquire the faculty of 
making a proper ufe of their fenfes. A dog, though pref- 
fed with hunger, will not feize a piece of meat in prefence 
of his mafter, unlefs it be given to him : But, with his eyes, 
his movements, and his voice, he makes the moft humble 
and expreffive petition. If this balancing of motives be not 
reafoning, I know not by what other name it can be called. 

Animals, recently after birth, know not how to avoid 
danger. Neither can they make a proper ufe of their mem- 
bers. But experience foon teaches them what is pleafant 
and what is painful, what objects are hurtful and what falu- 
tary. A young cat, or a dog, who has had no experience of 
leaping from a height, will without hefitation, precipitate itfelf 
from the top of a high wall. But, after perceiving that cer- 
tain heights are hurtful, and other's inoffenfive, the animal 
learns to make the diftinction, and never afterwards can be 
prevailed upon to leap from a height wiuJ it knows will be 
productive of pain. 

Young animals examine every object they meet with. In 
this inveftigation they employ all their organs. The firft pe- 
riods of their life are dedicated to ftudy. When they run 
about, and make frolickfome gambols, it is Nature fporting 
with them for their inftrudtion. In this manner they im- 
prove their faculties and organs, and acquire an intimate 
knowledge of the objects which furround them. Men who, 
from peculiar circumftances, have been prevented from 
mingling with companions, and engaging in the different 
amufements and exercifes of youth, are always awkward in 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 167 

their movements, cannot ufe their organs with eafe or dexte- 
rity, and often continue, during life, ignorant of the moft 
common objects. 

From the above facts and reafoning, it feems to be ap- 
parent, that inftincts are original qualities of mind ; that eve- 
ry animal is poflefled of fome of thefe qualities ; that the in- 
telligence and refources of aminals are proportioned to the 
number of inftincts with which their minds are endowed ; 
that all animals are, in fome meafure, rational beings ; and 
that the dignity and fuperiority of the human intellect are- 
necelTary refults, not of the conformation of our bodies, but 
of the great variety of inftincts which Nature has been pleaf- 
ed to confer on the fpecies. 



168 THE PHILOSOPHY 

CHAPTER VI. 

Of the Senfes. 

JN O animal of which we have any knowledge is 
endowed with more than the five external fenfes of fmelling, 
tailing, hearing, touch, and feeing •, and no animal, how- 
ever, imperfect, is deftitute of the whole. Without organs 
of fenfation, in a fmaller or greater number, animal or intel- 
lectual exiftence is to us an inconceivable idea. Hence the 
notion of the ancients, and of a very few moderns, that this 
earth, as well as all the heavenly bodies, are intelligent be- 
ings, though they have not the veftige of any inftrument of 
fenfation, or of any thing analogous to our ideas of animation, 
except mechanical motion, is too abfurd even to be ferioufly 
mentioned. 

Upon this interefting fubject, as it comprehends every 
fource of information, and every motive to action in man, as 
well as in the inferior animals, it is not furprifing that fo 
much has been written, and that fo many different theories 
have been invented, and fubmitted to public infpection. 
Some of thefe theories fhall be taken notice of in a curfory 
manner, and others, as unworthy of attention, (hall be paffed 
over in filence. 

Our obfervations on the different inftruments of fenfation 
{hall proceed in the following order, namely, of the fenfes of 
fmelling, of tafting, of hearing, of touch, and of feeing. In 
general, it may be remarked, that all fenfation is conveyed 
to the mind by an unknown influence of the nerves. If the 
optic, olfactory, or any nerve diftributed over an organ of 
fenfation, be cut, or rendered paralytic, the animal inftantly 
lofes that particular fenfe. This is a fact univerfally eftab- 
lifhed by experiment. But that the nerves, which are per- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 169 

fectly fimilar in every part of the body, fhould, when diftri- 
buted over the eye, the ear, the tongue, the nofe, convey to 
the mind feelings fo different, is the moil myfterious part of 
this fubject. When M. de Bonnet tells us, that every organ 
of fenfe probably confifts of fibres fpecifically different ; and 
that thefe fibres are particular ferifes endowed with a peculiar 
manner of acting, correfponding to the perceptions they ex- 
cite in the mind •, he means to reafon ; but he does no 
more than give a circumlocution for the fact. 

OF SMELLING. 

IN man, and many other animals, the organ by which tlie 
fenfe of fmelling is conveyed to the mind, has received the 
general appellation of nofe> or noftrils. The more immediate 
inftrument of this fenfation is a foft, vafcular, porous mem- 
brane, covered with numerous papillae, and is known by the 
name of membrana pituitaria, or membrana Schneideriana. This 
membrane is totally covered with infinite ramifications and 
convolutions of the olfactory nerves. Thefe nerves are al- 
moft naked, and expofed to the action of the air which pa£» 
fes through the nofe in performing the function of refpira- 
tion. But Nature, ever attentive to the eafe and conveni- 
ence of her creatures, has furnilhed the noftrils with a num° 
ber of glands, or fmall arteries, which fecrete a thick infipid 
mucus. By this mucus, the olfactory nerves are defended 
from the action of the air, and from the painful ftimuli of 
acrid odours. 

The odours perceived by fmelling are extremely various. 
Some of them convey to us the moil delightful and refrefhr 
ing fenfations, and others are painful, noxious, and difguft- 
ing. All bodies in Nature, whether folid or fluid, whether 
animated or inanimated, continuallv fend forth to the air 
certain effluvia or emanations from their refpective fubftan- 
ces. Thefe effluvia float in the atmofphere, and act upon 



170 THE PHILOSOPHY 

the olfactory nerves of different animals, and fometimes of 
different individuals of the fame fpecies, in fuch a manner as 
to produce very different fenfations. What is pleafant to 
the noftrils of one animal is highly offenfive to thofe of 
another. Brute animals feledt their food chiefly by employ- 
ing the fenfe of fmelling, and it feldom deceives them. They 
eafily diftinguifh noxious from falutary food ; and they care- 
fully avoid the one, and ufe the other for nourifhment. The 
fame thing happens with regard to the drink of animals. A 
cow, when it can be obtained, always repairs to the cleared 
and frefheft ftreams ; but a horfe, from fome inftinctive im- 
pulfe, uniformly raifes the mud with his feet, and renders 
the water impure, before he drinks. 

In the felection of food, men are greatly aflifted, even in 
the moft luxurious date of fociety, by the fenfe of fmelling. 
By fmelling we often reject food as noxious, and will not 
rifk the other teft of tafting. Victuals which have a putrid 
fmell, as equally offenfive to our noftrils as hurtful to our 
conftitutions, we avoid with abhorrence -, but we are allured 
to eat fubftances which have a grateful and favoury odour. 
The more frequent and more acute difcernment of brutes in 
the exercife of this fenfe, is entirely owing to their freedom, 
and to their ufing natural productions alone. But men in 
fociety, by the arts of cookery, by the unnatural affemblage 
of twenty ingredients in one difh, blunt, corrupt, and de- 
ceive both their fenfes of fmelling and of tafting. Were we 
in the fame natural condition as the brutes, our fenfe of 
fmelling would enable us to diftinguifh, with equal certainty, 
noxious from falutary food. Brutes, as well as men, prefer 
particular foods to others. This may be considered as a 
fpecies of luxury ; but it fliould likewife be confidered, that 
all the articles they ufe are either animal or vegetable fub- 
ftances in a natural ftate, neither converted into a thoufand 
forms and qualities by the operation of fire and water, nor 
paving their favour exalted by ftimulating condiments. Do- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 171 

meftic animals are nearly in the fame condition with luxuri- 
ous men. A pampered dog fnuffs and rejects many kinds 
of food, which, in a natural ftate, he would devour with 
eagernefs. 

It is not unworthy of remark, that, in all animals, 
the organs of fmelling and of tailing are uniformly fituated 
very near each other. Here the intention of Nature is evi- 
dent. The vicinity of thefe two fenfes forms a double guard 
in the felection of food. Were they placed in diftant parts 
of the body, they could not fo readily give mutual aid to 
one another. 

But afliftance in the choice of food is not the only ad- 
vantage that men and other animals derive from the fenfe of 
fmelling. Every body in nature, whether animal, vegetable, 
or mineral, when expofed to the air, continually fends forth 
emanations, or effluvia, of fuch extreme fubtlety, that no eye 
can perceive them. Thefe effluvia, or volatile particles, dif- 
fufe themfelves through the air, and moil of them are re- 
cognized, by the organ of fmelling, to be either agreeable or 
difagreeable. To give fome idea of the inconceivable mi- 
nutenefs of thefe particles, and of the amazing fenfibility of 
the noilrils of animals, the odour of mufk has" been known 
to fill a large fpace for feveral years without lofing any per- 
ceptible part of its weight. Thus, the air we breathe is per- 
petually impregnated with an infinity of different particles 
which ftimulate the olfactory nerves, and give rife to the 
fenfation of fmell. When our fenfes are not vitiated by un- 
natural habits, they are not only faithful monitors of danger, 
but convey to us the moft exquifite pleafures. Even the 
fenfe of fmelling is always productive either of pleafure or 
pain. The fragrance of a rofe, and of many other flowers, 
is not only pleafant, but gives a refrefhing and delightful 
ftimulus to the whole fyftem, and may be confidered as a 
fpecies of wholefome nourifhment - s while the odours pro- 



172 THE PHILOSOPHY 

ceedingfrom hemlock, and from many other noxious vege- 
table, animal, and mineral fubftances, are highly offenfive to 
our noftrils. Hence we are naturally compelled to embrace 
the one clafs of fenfations and to avoid the other. 

Some animals, as the dog, the fox, the raven, &c. are en- 
dowed with a moft exquifite fenfe of fmelling. A dog 
fcents various kinds of game at confiderable diftances ; and, 
if the fact were not confirmed by daily experience, it could 
hardly gain credit, that he can trace the odour of his mas- 
ter's foot through all the winding flreets of a populous city. 
If we judge from our own feelings, this extreme fenfibility 
in the nofe of a dog is to us perfectly incomprehenfible. 

The fenfe of fmelling, like that of fome other fenfes, may 
be perverted or corrupted by habit. The fnuffing, chew- 
ing, and fmoaking tobacco, though at firft difagreeable, be- 
come, by the power of habit, not only pleafant, but almoft 
indifpenfible. The fame remark is applicable to the practice 
of fwallowing ardent fpirits, the moft deleterious of all poif- 
ons, becaufe the moft extenfively employed. How the nat- 
ural ftate of the nerves, and of the* fenfations conveyed by 
them, fhould be fo completely changed, we are totally ignor- 
ant. The conftitution of the nerves often varies in differ- 
ent individuals of the fame fpecies. An odour which is dif- 
guftful to one man is highly grateful to another. I knew a 
gentleman who was in the daily habit of lighting and put- 
ting out candles, that he might enjoy the pleafure of their 
fmell. Few men, I fuppofe, would envy him. 

OF TASTING. 

THE tongue and palate are the great inftruments of this 
fenfation. With much wifdom and propriety the organ of 
tafte is fltuated in fuch a manner as enables it to be a guar- 
dian to the alimentary canal, and to aflift the organ of fmell 
in diftinguifhing falutary from noxious food. The tongue, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 173 

like the other instruments of fenfation, is amply fupplied 
with nerves. The terminations of thefe nerves appear on 
the furface of the tongue in the form of papillae or minute 
nipples, which are always erected on the application of fapid 
or itimulating fabftances. This elevation and extenticn of 
the papillae, by bringing larger portions of the nerves into 
contact with the fubftances applied to the tongue, give ad- 
ditional ftrength to the fenfation, and enable us to judge 
with greater accuracy concerning their nature and qua', Ides. 
Belide the nervous papillae, the tongue is perpetually moift- 
ened with faliva, a liquor which, though infipid itielf, is one 
great caufe of all taftes. The faliva of animals is a very pow- 
erful folvent. Every fubftance applied to the tongue is 
partially duTolved by the faliva before the fenfation of tafte 
is excited. When the tongue is rendered dry by difeafe, or 
any other caufe, the fenfe of tafte is either vitiated or totally 
annihilated. 

In fome men, the fenfe of tafte is fo blunt, that they can- 
not diftinguifh with any degree of accuracy the different 
fpecies of that fenfation. In others, whether from Nature or 
from habit, this fenfe is fo acute, that they can perceive the 
niceft diftinctions in the favour of folids and of liquids. 

The fenfations conveyed to the mind by tafte, like thofe 
of all the fenfes, are either agreeable, difagreeable, or indiffer- 
ent. The pleafures arifing from this fenfe are not only great, 
but highly ufeful to every animal. The fenfe itfelf, however, 
is comparatively grofs ; for, in fmelling, hearing, and feeing, 
fenfations are excited by emanations or undulations proceed- 
ing from bodies at great diftances from the animals who per- 
ceive them. But, in tafting, the object muft be brought in- 
to actual contact with the tongue before its qualities can be 
difcovered. How this proportionally grofs fenfe fhould 
have been felected, and figuratively applied to the general 

perception of every thing beautiful and fublime, whether in 

X 



174 THE PHILOSOPHY 

Nature or in art, it is difficult to determine. The inquiry* 
however, would not be incurious, whether men who have 
an obtufe fenfe of tafting material fubftances are likewife 
deficient in the perception of beauty and deformity. 

Though the fenfe of tafte varies in fome individuals, yet, 
like figurative tafte, the ftandard of agreeable and difagreea- 
ble, of pleafant and painful, is almoft univerfally diffufed 
over mankind and the brute creation. Every horfe, and 
every ox, when in a natural ftate, eat and reject the fame 
fpecies of food. But men in fociety, as well as domeftic ani- 
mals, are induced by habit, by neceffity, or by imitation, to 
acquire a tafte for many difhes, and combinations of fub- 
ftances, which, before the natural difcriminating fenfe is per- 
verted, would be rejected with difguft. 

Some individuals of the human fpecies have an averfion to 
particular kinds of food, which are generally agreeable. 
This averfion may be either original or acquired. I knew a 
child, who, from the moment he was weaned, could never 
be induced to take milk of any kind. Thefe original aver- 
sions muft be afcribed to fome peculiar modification in the 
Structure of the organ, or in the difpofition of its nerves. 
But, in general, difguft at particular foods is produced by 
furfeits, which injure the ftomach, and create, in that exqui- 
sitely irritable vifcus, an infuperable antipathy to receive 
nourishment which formerly gave it fo much uneafinefs to 
digeft. 

Brute animals, efpecially thofe which feed upon herbage, 
and are not liable to be corrupted by example or neceffity, 
diftinguifh taftes with wonderful accuracy. By the applica- 
tion of the tongue, they inftantly perceive whether any 
plant is falutary or noxious. To enable them, amid ft a 
tlloufimd plants, to make this difcrimination, their nervous 
papillae, and their tongues, are proportionally much larger 
than thofe of man. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 175 

OF HEARING. 

THE fenfation of hearing is conveyed to the mind by un- 
dulations of air ftriking the ear, an organ of a very delicate 
and complex ftructure. In man and quadrupeds, the exter- 
nal ears are large, and provided with mufcles by which they 
can erect and move them from fide to fide, in order to catch 
the undulations produced in the air by the vibrations of fono- 
rous bodies, or to diftinguifh with greater accuracy the fpe- 
cies of found, and the nature and fituation of the animal or 
object from which it proceeds. Though the human ears, 
like thofe of quadrupeds, are furnifhed with mufcles, evi- 
dently intended for fimilar movements, yet, I know not for 
what reafon, there is not one man in a million who has the 
power of moving his ears. When we liften to a feeble 
found, we are confcious of an exertion ; but that exertion, 
and the motions produced by it, are confined to the internal 
parts of the organ. 

The canals or pafTages to the internal parts of the ear 
are cylindrical, fomewhat contorted, and become gradually 
fmaller till they reach the membrana tympanic which covers 
what is called the drum of the ear. This membrane, which 
is extremely fenfible, when acted upon by indulations of air, 
however excited, conveys, by means of a complex apparatus 
of bones, nerves, &c. the fenfation of found to the brain or 
fentient principle. 

That air is the medium by which all founds are propagat- 
ed, has been eftablifhed by repeated experiments. The 
found of a bell, fufpended in the receiver of an air-pump, 
gradually diminifhes as the air is exhaufted, till it almoft en- 
tirely ceafes to be heard. On the other hand, when the 
quantity of air is increafed by a condenfer, the intensity of 
the found is proportionally augmented. Mr. Haufkbee, in a 
paper publiflaed in the Philofophical Tranfactions, has prov- 
ed, that founds actually produced cannot be tranfmitted 



176 THE PHILOSOPHY 

through a vacuum, or a fpace deprived of air. * I took,* 
fays he, c a ftrong receiver, armed with a brafs hoop at the 
s bottom, in which I included a bell as large as it could well 

* contain. This receiver I fcrewed ftrongly down to a brafs 

* plate with a wet leather between, and it was full of common 

* air, which could no wife make its efcape. Thus fecured, it 

* was fet on the pump, where it was covered with another 
c large receiver. In this manner, the air contained between 
c the outward and inward receivers was exhaufted. Now 
« here I was fure, when the clapper fhould be made to ftrike 

< the bell, there would be actually found produced in the in- 
? ward receiver ; the air in which was of the fame denfity as 

< common air, could fuffer no alteration by the vacuum on 
c its outfide, fo ftrongly was it fecured on all parts. Thus, all 
c being ready for trial, the clapper was made to ftrike the 
« bell ; but I found that there was no tranfmiflion of it 
c through the vacuum, though I was fure there was actual 

< found produced in the inward receiver.' 

To enable us to underftand the manner in which founds 
are propagated through the air, philofophers have had re- 
courfe to the undulations produced by a ftone thrown into a 
pond of ftagnating water. Thefe undulations aflume the 
form of circular waves, which fucceffively proceed from the 
place where the ftone ftruck the water, as from a center, and 
continually dilate, and become greater and greater as they 
recede from that center, till they reach the banks of the wa- 
ter, where they either vanifli or are reflected. Now, as air 
is likewife a fluid, flmilar undulations, though to us inviftble, 
are produced in it by the vibrations of fonorous bodies, and 
are alfo propagated to great diftances in fucceflive waves or 
rings. Thefe undulations of the air, when they come into 
contact with our organs of hearing, make fuch a tremulous 
impreflion upon them as excites in our minds the fenfation 
c?f found. This analogy, though not altogether perfect, is 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 177 

fufRcient to illuftrate thofe inviiible motions of the air by 
which founds are conveyed from one place to another, and 
to give an idea of echoes, or reflected undulations of that 
fluid. 

The celerity with which founds, or undulations of air, 
move, has been exactly computed. All founds, whether 
acute or grave, flrong or weak, move at the rate of 1142 
feet in a fecond of time. Hence, whenever the lightning of 
thunder, or the fire of artillery, are feen, their actual dif- 
tances from the obferver may be eafily afcertained by the 
vibrations of a pendulum. This velocity, it is true, may be 
a little augmented or diminifhed by favourable or by con- 
trary winds, and by heat or cold. But the difference, even 
in high winds, is fo trifling, that, for any ufeful purpofe, it 
fcarcely merits attention. 

Infants hear bluntly, becaufe the bones of their ears are 
foft and cartilaginous ; and, of courfe, the tremulations excited 
in them by the motions of the air are comparatively weako 
Young children, accordingly, are extremely fond of noife. 
It roufes their attention, and conveys to them the agreeable, 
fenfation of found ; but feeble founds are not perceived^ 
which give infants, like deaf perfons, the appearance of inat^ 
tention, or rather of ftupidity. 

The force or intenfity of found is augmented by reflection 
from furrounding bodies. It is from this caufe that the hu- 
man voice, or any other noife, is always weaker, and lefs 
diftinctly heard, in the open air than in a houfe. 

The modifications of found are not lefs various than thofe 
of taftes or odours. The ear is capable of diftinguifhing 
fome hundred tones in found, and probably as many degrees 
of ftrength in the fame tones. By combining thefe, many 
thoufand Ample founds, which differ either in tone or in 
ftrength, are perceived and diftinguifhed by the ear. A 
violin, a flute, a French -born, may each of them give the 



178 THE PHILOSOPHY 

fame tone ; but the ear eafily makes the diftinclion. The 
immenfe variety of fenfations, arifing from the organs of 
fmelling, of tafting, and of hearing, enables animals to judge 
concerning the nature and fituation of external objects. By 
habit we learn to know the bodies from which particular 
fpecies of founds proceed. Previous to all experience, we 
could not diftinguifh whether a found came from the right 
or the left, from above or below, from a greater or a fmaller 
diftance, or whether it was the found of a coach, of a drum, 
of a bell, or of an animal. By catching cold, I once had a 
temporary deafnefs in my left ear. I was furprifed to find 
that I had loft the faculty of perceiving the fituation from 
which founds proceeded. If a dog barked on the left, I 
thought the noife came from the right. This circumftance 
excited my curoflty : But, upon recollection, 1 knew that 
my left ear was deaf; and that every found I heard was per- 
ceived folely by the right j and, confequently, I difcovered 
the caufe of the deception. 

Hearing enables us to perceive all the agreeable fenfa- 
tions conveyed to our minds by the melody and harmony of 
founds. This, to man at leaft, is a great fource of pleafure 
and of innocent amufement. But fome men are almoft total- 
ly deftitute of the faculty of diftinguifhing mufical founds, 
and of perceiving thofe delightful and diverfified feelings 
excited by the various combinations of mufical tones. Moft 
men derive pleafure from particular fpecies of mufic. But a 
mufical ear, in a reftricted fenfe, is by no means a general 
qualification. An ear for mufic, however, though not to be 
acquired by ftudy, when the faculty itfelf is wanting, may be 
highly improved by habit and culture. BufFon, after exam- 
ining a number of perfons who had no ear for mufic, fays, 
that every one of them heard worfe in one ear than in the 
other ; and afcribes their inability of diftinguifhing mufical 
gxpreffton to that defect:. But a mufical ear feems to have 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 179 

no dependence on acutenefs or bluntnefs of hearing, whether 
in one ear or in both ears. There are many examples of 
people who may be faid to be half deaf, and yet are both 
fond of mufic, and fkilful practitioners. An ear for mufic, 
like a genius for painting, or poetry, is a gift of Nature, 
and is born with the pofleflbr. 

Befide the innumerable pleafures we derive from mufic 
and agreeable founds, the extension and improvement of ar- 
tificial language muft be confidered as objects of the greateft 
importance to the human race. Without the fenfe of hear* 
ing, mankind would forever have remained mute. I men- 
tion artificial, or improved language, becaufe, from a thouf- 
and obfervations which every perfon muft have made, it is 
perfectly apparent, that, if deftitute of a natural language, 
neither man nor the brute creation* could poffibly, have ex- 
ifted and continued their fpecies. As brutes, without in- 
formation or experience, are capable of communicating to 
each other, by particular founds and geftures, their pleafures 
and pains, their wants and defires, it would be the higheft 
abfurdity to fuppofe that the great Creator fhould have de- 
nied to man, the nobleft animal that inhabits this globe, the 
fame indifpenfible privilege. Without a bafis there can be 
no fabric. Without a natural no artificial language could 
poffibly have exifted. This point is clearly demonftrated, 
in a few words, by that moft ingenious, candid, and pro- 
found philofopher, Dr. Thomas Reid, ProfefTor of Moral 
Philofophy in the Univerfity of Glafgow. * If mankind,* 
fays Dr. Reid, « had not a natural language, they could nev- 

< er have invented an artificial one by their reafon and inge- 
« nuity. For all artificial language fuppofes fome compact: 

< or agreement to affix a certain meaning to certain figns ; 

* therefore, there muft be compacts or agreements before 

* the ufe of artificial figns ; but there can be no compact: or 

* Concerning the language of Eeafts, I {hall, perhaps, be more explicit in a 
fuLuf*. work. 



1*6 



THS PHILOSOPHY 



c agreement without figns, nor without language ; and there* 
c fore there mud be a natural language before any artificial 

* language can be invented*? Let any man try to overturn 
this argument, which is founded, not upon metaphyseal con- 
jecture, but upon the folid bails otfaEl and uncontrovertible 
reafonlng. The elements, or conftituent parts of the natural 
language of mankind, the Doctor reduces to three kinds ; 
modulations of the voice, geftures, and features. * By means 

* of thefe,' fays he, < two favages, who have no common ar- 

* tificial language, can converfe together ; can communicate 

* their thoughts in fome tolerable manner ; can alk and re- 
< fufe, affirm and deny, threaten and fupplicate ; can traffic, 

* enter into covenants, imd plight their faith.' 

I can perceive only one plaufible objection to this reafon- 
ing. If, it may be faid, man were endowed with a natural 
language, this language muft be univerfal ; from what fource, 
then, can the great diverfity of languages in different na- 
tions, and tribes of the human race be derived ? The folu- 
tion of this queftion depends not upon metaphyseal argu- 
ments, but upon fact and experience. I have had consider- 
able opportunities of obferving the behaviour of children. 
Infants, when very young, have nearly the fame modes of ex- 
preUing their pleafures and pains, their defires and averfions. 
Thefe they communicate by voice, gefture, and feature ; and 
every infant, whatever be the country, climate, or language, 
Uniformly exprefTes its feelings almoft in the fame manner. 
But, when they arrive at nine or twelve months of age, a dif- 
ferent fcene is exhibited. They then, belide the general 
expreffions of feeling and defire, attempt to* give names to 
particular objects. Here artifice begins. In thefe attempts, 
previous to the capacity of imitating articulate founds, every 
individual infant utters different founds, or rather gives differ- 

* Dr. Reid's Inquiry into the Human Mind, on the Principles of Conimoa 
Senfe, page 93. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 181 

ent names, to fignify the fame objects of its defire or averfion. 
Beiide this natural attempt towards a nomenclature, infants, 
during the period above mentioned, (for the time varies ac- 
cording to the health and vivacity of the child), frequently 
make continued orations. Thefe orations confift both of ar- 
ticulate and inarticulate founds, of which no man can give 
an idea in writing. But mofr. men, and every woman who 
has nurfed children, will perfectly underftand what I cannot 
exprefs. From the fact, that children actually utter differ- 
ent founds, or give different names to denot© the fame ob- 
jects, I imagine, arifes all that diveriity of languages, which, 
by exhaufting time and attention, retard the progrefs and im- 
provement both of Art and Science. If any number of chil- 
dren, or of foiitary favages, fhould chance to affociate, the 
names of objects would foon be fettled by imitation and con- 
fent. By obfervation and experience the number of names 
would be augmented, as well as the qualities or attributes 
of the objects themfelves •, and, in the progrefs of time, a 
new and artificial language would be gradually formed. 
While this operation is going on in one corner of a country, 
twenty fimilar affociations and compacts may be forming, or 
already formed, in different nations, or in different diftricts 
of the fame nation, all of which would give birth to feparate 
artificial languages. 

OF TOUCH. 

THE fenfations of fmelliag, tafting, hearing, and feeing, 
are conveyed to us by partial organs, which are all confined 
to the head* But the fenfe of touching, or of feeling, is not 
only common to thefe organs, but extends over almoft every 
part of the body, whether external or internal. Though 
every fenfation may be comprehended under the general ap- 
pellation of feeling, yet what is called the fenfe of touch is 
properly reftricted to the different fenfations excited by 



182 THE PHILOSOPHY 

bodies applied to the fkin, and particularly to the tips oi 
the fingers. 

"With regard to fenfation in general, it is worthy of re- 
mark, that the eyes, the ears, the noftrils, the tongue and 
palate, the palms of the hands, efpecially towards the points 
of the fingers, are more amply fupplied with nerves than any 
other external parts of the body. The terminations of the 
nerves on the furface of the fkin are foft and pulpy, and 
form minute protuberances refembling the nap of freeze- 
cloth, though greatly inferior in magnitude. Thefe protur- 
berances have received the denomination of nervous papillae* 
They might be called animal feelers -, for they are obvioufly 
the immediate inflruments of fenfation. If an object be pre- 
fented to the eye, or any other organ of fenfation, certain 
feelings are excited, which are either agreeable or difagreea- 
ble, according to the real or imaginary qualities which we 
confider as belonging to that object. The feelings thus ex- 
cited inftantly produce a change in the fenfitive organs by 
which they are occafioned. If the object be pofTefTed of dis- 
agreeable qualities, averfion is the neceffary confequence. 
But, if beauty and utility are perceived in the object, pleaf- 
ant emotions fpring up in the mind, which naturally induce 
a fimilar tone or difpofition in the organs fuited for the en- 
joyment of thefe qualities. 

When examining or enjoying any object, it is natural to 
inquire, what are the changes produced in the nervous papil- 
lae, or organs of fenfation ? If an object pofTefTed of agreea- 
ble feelings is perceived, the nervous papillae inftantly extend 
themfelves, and, from a flate of naccidity, become compara- 
tively rigid like bridles. This extenfion of the papillae is 
not conjectural : It is founded on anatomical obfervation, 
and, in fome cafes, may be feen and felt by perfons of acute 
and decerning fenfations. When a man in the dark inclines 
to examine any fubftance, in order to difcover its figure, ©r 



©F NATURAL HISTORY. 188 

Other qualities, he perceives a kind of rigidity at the tips of 
his fingures. If the fingers are kept long in this ftate, the 
rigidity of the nervous papillae will give him a kind of pain 
or anxiety, which it is impoflible to defcribe. The caufe of 
this pain is an over-diftenfion of the papillae. If a imall in- 
fect creeps on a man's hand, when the papillae are flaccid, its 
movements are not perceived : But if he happens to direct 
his eye to the animal, he immediately extends his papillae, 
and feels diftinctly all its motions. If a body be prefent, 
which, in the common ftate of the nerves, has fcarcely any 
fenfible odour, by extending the papillae of the noftrils, an 
agreeable, difagreeable, or indifferent fmell will be perceived. 
When two perfons are whifpering, and we wifh to know 
what is faid, we ftretch the papillae, and the other organs of 
hearing, which are exceedingly complex. If a found is too 
low for making an impreffion on the papillae in their natural 
ftate of relaxation, we are apt to overftretch the organ, which 
produces a painful or irkfome feeling. When we examine 
a mite, or any very minute object, by the naked eye, a pain is 
propagated over every part of that organ. Several caufes 
may concur in producing this pain, fuch as the dilating of 
the pupil,and the adjufting the chryftalline lens-, but the chief 
caufe muft be afcribed to the preternatural intumefcence and 
extenfion of the papillae of the retina, the fubfiance of which 
is a mere congeries of nervous terminations. This circum- 
ftance confirms a former remark, that the immediate organs 
of fenf'stion were more copioufly fupplied with nervous pa r 
pillae than thofe parts whofe ufes require not fuch exquifite 
fenfibility •, for a diftinction in this refpect is obfervable 
even among the fenfitive organs themfelves. They are fur- 
nifhed with nerves exactly proportioned to the fubtility of 
the objects whofe impreflions they are fitted to receive. The 
eye pofTefTes by far the greatefl number. The particles of 
light are fo minute, that, had not this wife provillcn been 
pbferved in the conflruction of the eye, it could never have 



184? THE PHILOSOPHY 

been able to diftinguifli objects with fuch accuracy as at pre- 
fent it is capable of performing. When an infipid body, 
or a body which conveys but a very feeble fenfation of tafte, 
is applied to the tongue, we are confcious of an effort which 
that organ makes in Order to difcover the quality of the body 
thus applied. This effort is nothing but the ftretching of 
the nervous papillae, that they may enlarge the field of con- 
tact with the body under examination. 

The pleafure or pain produced by the fenfe of touch de- 
pends chiefly on the friction, or number of impulfes, made 
upon the papillae. Embrace any agreeable body with your 
hand, and allow it to remain perfectly at reft, and you will 
find the pleafure not half fo exquifite as when the hand is 
gently moved backward and forward upon the furface. Ap- 
ply the hand to a piece of velvet, and it is merely agreeable : 
Rub the hand repeatedly on the furface of the cloth, and 
the pleafant feeling will be augmented in proportion to the 
number of impulfes on the papillae. When a man is pinch- 
ed with hunger, the fight or idea of palatable food raifes the 
whole papillae of his tongue and fromach. From this cir- 
cumftance he is highly regaled by eating. But, if he eats 
the fame fpecies of food when the ftomach is lefs keen, 
the pleafure in the one cafe is not to be compared with what 
is felt in the other. The caufe is obvious : His defire was 
not fo urgent j the object, of courfe, was lefs alluring ; and 
therefore he was more remifs in erecting his papillae, or in 
putting them in a tone fuited to fuch eminent gratification. 

The fame obfervations are applicable to difagreeable or 
painful objects of contact. Jf the hand is laid upon a gritty 
flone, or a piece of rufty iron, the feeling is difagreeable ; 
but if it is frequently rubbed upon the furface of thefe bodies, 
the feeling becomes infufferably irkfome. 

It is by the fenfe of touch that men, and other animals, 
are enabled to perceive and determine many qualities of ex- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 183 

ternal bodies. By this fenfe we acquire the ideas of hard- 
nefs and foftnefs, of roughnefs and fmoothnefs, of heat and 
cold, of prerTure and weight, of figure, and of diftance. The 
fenfe of touch is more uniform, and liable to fewer decep- 
tions, than thofe of fmelling, tafting, hearing, and feeing 5 
becaufe, in examining the qualities of objects, the bodies 
themfelves muft be brought into actual contact with the or- 
gan, without the intervention of any medium, the varia- 
tions of which might miflead the judgment. 

OF SEEING. 

OF all the fenfes, that of feeing is unqueftionably the no- 
bleft, the moft refined, and the mod extenfive. The ear in- 
forms us of the exiftence of objects at comparatively fmall 
distances ; and its information is often imperfect and falla- 
cious. But the organ of fight, which is moft admirably con- 
structed, not only enables us to perceive thoufands of objects 
at one glance, together with their various figures, colours, 
and apparent pofitions, but, even when unarmed, to form 
ideas of the fun and planets, and of many of the fixed ftars ; 
and thus connects us with bodies fo remote,, that imagina- 
tion is loft when it attempts to form a conception of their 
immenfe magnitude and diftances. This natural field of 
vifion, however, great, has been vaftly extended by the in- 
vention of optical inftruments. YvTien aided by the telef- 
cope, the eye penetrates into regions of fpace, and per- 
ceives ftars innumerable, which, without the afliftance of art, 
would to us have no exiftence. Our ideas of the beauty, 
magnitude, and remotenefs or vicinity of external objects, are 
chiefly derived from this delicate and acute inftrument of 
fenfation. 

Before proceeding to the peculiarities of vifion, and the 
general properties of light, we fhall give a fhort defcriptioa 
of the ftructure of the eve. 



18Q THE PHILOSOPHY 

The globe of the eye is compofed of three humours, cal« 
led aqueous, cryftalline, and vitreous ; and of the retina, ciliary 
ligament, and iris. All thefe are contained within the fclero^ 
tica and cornea, or capfule of the eye. The white part of the 
cornea is opaque ; but the pupil, or fight of the eye, through 
which the rays of light pafs, is tranfparent. The aqueous 
humour is a menifcus, or a convex exteriorly, and concave in- 
ternally. The cryftalline humour is doubly convex \ and its 
exterior convexity is embraced by the concave furface of the, 
aqueous. The vitreous humour is likewife a menifcus ; its 
concave furface embraces the interior convexity of the cryf- 
talline, and its convex furface is encompafTed by the retina, 
which is a fine expanfion of the medullary fibres of the optic 
nerve fpread upon the convex furface of the vitreous humour, 
and covering the bottom of the eye. The ciliary ligament is 
a ring of fibres, which inclofe the edges of the cryftalline, and 
ftretch in right lines towards its center. When thefe fibres 
contract, the diftance between the retina and cryftalline is 
lengthened ; and that diftance is fhortened when thefe 
fibres are in a relaxed ftate. The iris is that coloured circle 
which furrounds the pupil. 

By this curious apparatus all the phaenomena of vifion are 
conveyed to the mind. But, before we enter upon the man- 
ner in which the different parts of the eye concur in trans- 
mitting the rays of light and the images of objects to the 
retina, it will be neceffary to give fome general ideas con- 
cerning the nature of light, which is the univerfal medium 
of v ill on. 

Light confifts of innumerable rays, which proceed in di- 
rect lines from every part of luminous bodies. The motion 
of light, though not inftantaneous, is inconceivably fivift. 
To give fome comparative idea of its great velocity, it has 
been difcovered by philofophers, that rays of light coming 
from the fun reach this earth in feven minutes. Now, the 



of Natural histcJry. 187 

diftance of the earth from the fun is fo immenfe, that, fup- 
pofing a cannon bail to move at the rate of 500 feet in a 
fecond, it could not come from the fun to the earth in lets 
than 25 years. At this rate, the velocity of light will be 
above lu million of times greater than that of a cannon ball. 

The rays of light, though they proceed in direct lines 
from luminous bodies, are refracted, or bent out of their courfe, 
in palling through different mediums, as the air, glafs, and 
every tranfparent fubfhnce ; but, when they fall upon opaque 
bodies, they are reflected. Rays proceeding from any 
object, and paffing through a convex glafs or lens, are refract- 
ed and collected into a point, or fmall fpace, at a certain dif- 
tance from the glafs, which is called the focus of that lens. 

The white light conveyed to us by the fun is not homoge- 
neous, but coniifts of feven differently coloured rays, or what 
are called the primary colours. Thefe differently coloured 
rays were difcovered by Sir Ifaac Newton to have different 
degrees of refrangibility. When the white light of the fun 
was made to pafs through a glafs prifm, he found, that, in- 
ftead of retaining its original whitenefs, it exhibited {even 
diftindt colours, and that this phaenomenon was produced by 
the feveral rays in the compofition of white light being more 
or lefs refracted, or turned from their direct courfe. The 
fimple primary colours are feven in number, namely, red, 
orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Red is the 
leaft, and violet the raoft refrangible parts of white light. 
A proper mixture of all the feven primary colours confti- 
tutes whitenefs ; and by various combinations of the prima- 
ry colours, all the compound colours exhibited either in Na- 
ture or art are produced. Any furface appears black when 
it reflects little or no light. 

Tne different humours of the eye, and the cryftalline lens, 
are all denfer than air or water ; of courfe, their power of 
refracting the rays of light is likewife greater. The rays 
proceeding from every point of an object enter the pupil ; 



188 THE PHILOSOPHY 

and the refraction of the different parts of the eye, which act 
as a lens, neceffarily makes them crofs each other in their 
paffage to the retina. After croffing, they diverge till they 
are {topped by the retina, where they form an inverted pic- 
ture. The upper part of the object is painted on the lower 
part of the retina, and the right fide upon the left, &c. The 
celebrated Kepler firft difcovered, that diftinct, but inverted 
pictures of every object we behold are painted on the retina 
by the rays of light proceeding from vifible objects. This 
difcovery naturally led Kepler, as well as many other philo- 
fophers iince his time, to inquire how we fhould fee objects 
erect from inverted images on the retina. 

Many ingenious theories have been invented, and many 
volumes have been written, in order to explain this feeming- 
ly difficult queition. To give even a curfory view of thefe 
theories would not only be tedious, but in a great meafure 
ufelefs. We fhail therefore only remark, that their au- 
thors uniformly alTumed it as a principle, that, becaufe the 
pictures are inverted on the retina, the mind ought alfo to 
perceive them in the fame pofition. It is certain, that, unlefs 
diftinct images are painted on the retina, objects cannot be 
clearly perceived. If, from too little light, remotenefs, or 
any other caufe, a picture is indiftinctly painted on the reti- 
na, an obfcure or indiftinct idea of the object is conveyed to 
the mind. The picture on the retina, therefore, is fo far 
the caufe of vifion, that, unlefs this picture be clear and well 
defined, our ideas of the figure, colour, and other qualities 
of any object prefented to the eye, will be obfcure and im- 
perfect. The retina of the eye refembles a canvas on which 
objects are painted. The colours of thefe pictures are bright 
or obfcure, in proportion to the diftances of the objects re- 
prefented. When objects are very remote, their pictures on 
the retina, are fo faint, that they are entirely obliterated by 
the vigorous and lively impreffions of nearer objects, with 



Of NATURAL HlStdRf. 189 

which we are every way furrounded. On the other hand* 
when near objects emit a feeble light only, compared with 
that which proceeds from a remote object, as, for example, 
when we view luminous bodies in the night, then very dis- 
tant objects make diftinct pictures on the retina, and become 
perfectly vifible. Hence a man, by placing himfelf in a 
dark fituation, and looking through a long tube, without the 
intervention of a glafs, may make a kind of telefcope } which 
Will have a confiderable effect even during the day. For 
the fame reafon, a man at the bottom of a deep pit can fee 
the ftars at noon. 

The firft and greate'ft error in vifion, in the opinion of 
many authors, arifes from the inverted reprefentation of ob- 
jects upon the retina ; and they maintain, that, till children 
learn the real pofition of bodies by the fenfe of feeling, they 
fee every object inverted. But new born animals, whether 
of the human or brute fpecies, fee objects, not inverted, but 
in their real portions, independently of all experience, or of 
any opportunity of rectifying the fuppofed illufion by the 
fenfe of touch. Animals fee objects in their real pofition by 
a law of Nature, and by the inftrumentality of the eye and 
optic nerve. Were it not a law of Nature, or of the confti- 
tution of animals, to fee objects erect, though their images be 
inverted on the retinae, an inverted object could not poffi- 
bly appear inverted ; for, in this cafe, we fhould not be 
obliged to have recourfe to experience, or to the fenfe of 
feeling. Befides, it is an eftablifhed fact, that blind men, 
who had been reftored to fight by chirurgical operations, in- 
ftantly faw objects in their real pofition*. There is no rela- 
tion to the principles of optics, in the fenfation of feeling, by 
which an image, painted by rays of light on foft white ner- 
vous terminations, is conveyed through a moft opaque body, 
in a long courfe of perfect darknefs, to the brain. Indeed, 

* Haller. Phyfiol. torn, a, page 87, 
Z 



m 



THE PHILOSOPHY 



the fenfe by which the perceiving nerves of any kind ar^ 
affected, is not an image or idea of the object. The idea of 
rednefs has nothing in common with the leaft refrangible 
portions of light feparated from the other fix coloured rays 
of which white light is compofed. The pain of burning 
reprefents not to the mind any thing of that fwift and fubtle 
matter by which the nervous threads are broken or deftroy- 
ed. There is nothing in the idea of a fharp found, from a 
cord of a certain length, which can inform the mind that this 
cord vibrates 2000 times in a fecond. * 

Another queftion with regard to vifion has been much 
agitated by philofophers. Becaufe a feparate image of every 
object is painted on the retina of each eye, it was concluded, 
that we naturally fee all objects double ; that we learn to cor- 
rect this error of vifion by the fenfe of touching ; and that, 
if the fenfe of feeing were not conflantly rectified by that of 
touching, we fhould be perpetually deceived as to the pofi- 
tion, number, and fituation of objects. The Count de Buffon 
mentions the real fact, though he afcribes it to a wrong caufe. 
c When two images,' fays he, e fall on cor ref ponding parts of 

* the retina, or thofe parts which are always affected at the 
c fame time, objects appear fingle, becaufe we are accujlcmed 

* to judge of them in this manner. But, when the images 

* of objects fall upon parts of the retinae which are not ufual- 
( ly affected at the fame time, they then appear double, be- 

< caufe we have not acquired the habit of rectifying this un- 

* ufual fenfation. Mr. Cheffelden, in his anatomy, relates 

< the cafe of a man who had been affected with a ftrabifmus, or 

< fquinting, in confequence of a blow on the head. This man 

* faw every object double for a long time : But he gradually 
c learned to correct this error of vifion, with regard to ob- 

* jects which were familiar to him ; and, at laft, he faw eve- 

* For a more ample difcuflion of this point, fee Haller, Phyfiol, torn. 2,;— * 
and Dr. Reid's Inquiry. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 191 

i* ry object fingle as formerly, though the fquinting was never 
' removed. This is a proof flill more direct, that we really 
c fee all objects double, and that it is by habit alone we learn 

* to conceive them to be fingle*.' 

In this, and other pafTages, the Count de Buffon has point- 
ed out the genuine caufe (or ultimate fact) why we fee ob- 
jects fingle with two eyes. He tells us, that, though a dif- 
tinct image is painted on each retinae, whenever thele images 
are painted on correfponding points of the retinae, an object 
is perceived to be fingle. It is equally true, that, when one 
eye is diftorted by the finger, or any other caufe, in fuch a 
manner that the images are painted on points of the ratinae 
which do not correfpond, the object is perceived to be double. 
Objects which are much nearer, or much more remote, than 
that to which both eyes are directed, appear double. If a 
candle is placed at the diftance often feet, and a man holds his 
finger at arm's-length between his eyes and the candle, when 
he looks at the candle, he fees his finger double, and w hen 
he looks at his finger he fees the candle double. « In this 
c phaenomenon,' Dr. Reid properly remarks, ■ it is evident 

* to thofe who underftand optics, that the pictures of objects 

* which are feen double, do not fall upon points of the reti- 

* nae which are fimilarly fituated, but that the pictures of 

* objects feen fingle do fall upon points fimilarly fituated. 

* Whence we infer, that as the points of the two retinae, 

* which are fimilarly fituated with regard to the centres, do 

* correfpond, fo thofe which are difiimilarly fituated do not 
1 correfpond. It is to be obferved, that although, in fuch 

* cafes as are mentioned in the laft phaenomenon, we have 
s been accuftomed from infancy to fee objects double which 

* we know to be fingle ; yet cuftom, and experience of the 
( unity of the object, never take away this appearance of du- 
< plicityf.' 

f Buffon, vol. 3, pag,. 7, Tranflat. f Dr, Reid's inquiry, &c, page 287, 



192 THE PHILOSOPHY 

The fenfe of feeing, without the aid of experience, con* 
veys no idea of diftance. If not aflifted by the fenfe of 
touching, all objects would feem to be in contact with the eye 
itfelf. Objects appear larger or fmaller according as they 
approach or recede from the eye, or according to the angle 
they fubtend. A fly, when very near the eye, feems to be 
larger than a horfe or an ox at a diftance. Children can 
have no idea of the relative magnitude of objects, becaufe 
they have no notion of the different diftances at which they 
are feen. It is only after meafuring fpace by extending the 
hand, or by tranfporting their bodies from one place to anoth- 
er, that children acquire juft ideas concerning the real dif- 
tances and magnitudes of objects. Their ideas of magnitude 
refult entirely from the angle formed by the extreme rays re- 
flected from the fuperior and inferior parts of the object : 
Hence every near object muft appear to be large, and every 
diftant one fmall. But after, by touch, having acquired 
ideas of diftances, the judgment concerning magnitude be- 
gins to be rectified. If we judge folely by the eye, and have 
not acquired the habit of confidering the fame objects to be 
equally large, though feen at different diftances, the neareft 
of two men, though of equal iize, would feem to be many 
times larger than the fartheft. But we know that the laft 
man is equally large with the firft ; and, therefore, we judge 
him to be of the fame dimenfions. Any diftance ceafes to 
be familiar to us, when the interval is vertical, inftead of be- 
ing horizontal ; becaufe all the experiments by which we 
ufually rectify the errors of viiion, with regard to diftances, 
are made horizontally. We have not the habit of judging 
concerning the magnitude of objects which are much ele vat-r- 
ed above or funk below us. This is the reafon that, when 
viewing men from the top of a tower, or when looking up 
to a globe or a cock on the top of a fteeple, we think thefe 
pbje&s much fmaller than when feen at equal diftances in a. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. L9S 

horizontal direction. During the night, on account of the 
darknefs, we have no proper idea of diftance, and, of courfe, 
judge of the magnitude of objects folely by the largenefs of 
the angle or image formed in the eye, which necefTarily pro- 
duces a variety of deceptions. When travelling in the 
night, we are liable to miftake a bu(h that is near us for 
a tree at a diftance, or a diftant tree for a bufh winch is at 
hand. When benighted in a part of the country with which 
we are unacquainted, and, of courfe, unable to judge of the 
diftance and figure of objects, we are every moment liable to 
all the deceptions of vifion. This is the origin of that drea$ 
which fome men feel in the dark, and of thofe ghofts and 
horrible figures which fo many people pofitively aiTert they 
have feen in the night.' Such figures are commonly faid to 
exift in the imagination only ; but they often have a real ex- 
iftence in the eye 5 for, when we have no other mode of re- 
cognifing unknown objects but by the angle they form in 
the eye, their magnitude is uniformly augmented in propor- 
tion to their vicinity. If an object, at the diftance of twenty 
or thirty paces, appears to be only a few feet high, its height, 
when viewed within two or three feet of the eye, will feem 
to be many fathoms. Objects, in this Situation, muft excite 
terror, and aftonifhment in the fpedtator, till he approaches 
and recognifes them by actual feeling ; for the moment a 
man examines an object properly, the gigantic figure it aftum^ 
ed in the eye inftantly vanifhes, and its apparent, magnitude 
is reduced to its real dimensions. But if, inftead of approach- 
ing an object of this kind, the fpectator flies from it, he re- 
tains the idea which the image of it formed in his eye, and 
he may affirm with truth, that he beheld an object terrible 
in its afpect, and enormous in its fize. Hence the notion of 
fpectres, and of horrible figures, is founded in nature, and 
depends not folely on imagination. 



;i94- THE PHILOSOPHY 

When we have no idea of the diftance of objects by a pre- 
vious knowledge of the fpace between them and the eye, we 
try to judge of their magnitudes by recogniiing their figures. 
But, when their figures are not diftinguifhable, we perceive 
thofe which are moft brilliant in colour to be neareft, and 
thofe that are moft obfcure to be at the greateft diftance. 
From this mode of judging many deceptions originate. 
"When a number of objects are placed in a right line, as 
lamps in a long ftreet, we cannot judge of their proximity 
or remotenefs but by the different quantities of light they 
tranfmit to the eye. Of courfe, if the lamps neareft the eye 
happen to be more obfcure than thofe which are more re- 
mote, the firft will appear to be laft, and the laft firft. 



Before I difmifs this fubject, I feel an irrefiftible defire of 
giving a fhort view of the Abbe de Condillac's Traite des Sen- 
sations* ; a moft ingenious performance, which, I believe, is 
not very generally known in this country. 

In an advertifement prefixed to this Treatife, the fagacious 
and learned Abbe defires his readers to abftract themfelves 
from all their preconceived opinions, and to imagine the 
fituation and feelings of a ftatue, limited, at firft, to a fingle 
ienfe, and afterwards acquiring gradually the whole five. 

1. Setife of fmelling alone. 
A man, or a ftatue, who had no fenfe but that of fmel- 
ling, could have no other ideas than thofe of odours. He 
would be the fmell of a rofe, a violet, or a jeffamine, accord- 
ing as the effluvia of thefe objects acted upon his fingle or- 
gan of fenfation. From agreeable or difagreeable fmells he 
would acquire ideas of pleafure and pain. By means of 
agreeable and difagreeable fmells frequently repeated, thefe 
* From the edition 1754, in two volumes 12m. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. l§5 

fenfations would remain in his memory, and produce defire 
and averfion. He can now compare the fmell of a rofe with 
that of an hemlock. As foon as he compares, he judges of 
the relation between two ideas. In proportion as thefe 
comparifons or judgments are repeated, Jie acquires, by habit, 
a greater facility in making them. He can judge of differ- 
ent degrees of pleafure and pain. Hence, when he feels un- 
eafy, he recals pleafant fenfations which are paft, and wifhes 
for their return. This is the origin of defire and want. 
Memory is the recollection only of what is paft ; but, when 
the ideas of objects prefent themfelves in fo lively a manner, 
that he believes they are actually prefent, this operation of 
the mind is called imagination. Being limited to the ufe of 
one fenfe, he would learn to diftinguifh fmells with greater 
accuracy than beings endowed with more fources of informa- 
tion. Abftraction is the feparation of two ideas which have 
a natural connection. By reflecting that the ideas of pain 
and pleafure refult from different modifications of his exift- 
ence, he' contracts the habit of feparating them, and thus ac- 
quires ab (tract notions. To our ftatue, a violet is a parti- 
cular idea only ; confequently, all his abftractions are limited 
to different degrees of pleafure and pain. The fucceflion of 
fenfations will give him fome faint ideas of number, of paft, 
and of future time. Duration is an idea purely relative,, and 
changes according to the rapidity or flownefs of our percep- 
tions. Our ftatue is incapable of diftinguifhing dreams, or 
a lively imagination, from real fenfations. By the aid of 
memory he recognifes his identity, and knows his prefent 
from his paft condition. From thefe remarks it appears, 
that a man limited to one fenfe is capable of acquiring the 
rudiments of every human faculty, and that thefe faculties 
are only extended by the addition of other fenfes. Nearly 
the fame acquifitions would be made, if a man were limited 
to any of the other fenfes, 



!9<J f#E PHILOSOPHY 

2. Of Hearing alone i 
The pleafures of the ear arife chiefly from the fuccefiicfi 
6f founds conformably to the rules of melody or of harmony. 
Hence our ftatue's defires would not be confined to a {ingle 
found ; he would wifh to become a complete air. Sounds 
produce greater emotions than odours. They excite joy or 
fadnefs independently of acquired ideas. Noife alone, with- 
out mufical expreffion, would be agreeable : And mufic 
would convey pleafure proportioned to the exercife of the 
ear. Simple, and even coarfe fongs, would at firft be ravifh- 
ing. But, when gradually accuftomed to mufic more com- 
pounded, the ear would difcover new fources of delight. 
The pleafure of a fucceffion of mufical tones being fuperior 
to that of a continued noife, he would not confound the one 
with the other. 

3. Smelling and Hearing united. 
As thefe fenfes, taken feparately, give to our ftatue no 
Idea of external objects, neither can they by their union, 
tie would never fufpecl: that he had two different organs of 
perception, nor, at firft, diftinguifh two modes of exiftence 
in liimfelf. Sounds and odours would be confounded, and 
feem to be only one fimple modification. He would learn, 
however, by experience, and the aid of memory, to diftin- 
guifh two fenfations ; and then he would think that his ex- 
iftence was double. His train of ideas is more varied and 
extenfive, becaufe he has two kinds of modification j and, 
perhaps, noife would feem fo different from harmonious 
founds, that he might imagine he had three fenfes. 

4. Tajle alone ) and Tajle united with S?nelling and Hearing* 

When limited to tafte alone, the ftatue would acquire the 
fame mental powers as with fmelling or hearing. Tafte 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 197 

would contribute more to his happinefs and mifery than 
fmelling or hearing j becaufe favours, in general, affect us 
more than fmells, or even harmonious founds. 

When tafte is united with fmelling and hearing, the ftatue, 
after learning to know them feparately, would be enabled to 
diftinguifh thefe fenfations, even when tranfmitted to him at 
the fame time ; and therefore his exiftence would in fome 
meafure be tripled. The union of thefe fenfes would ftill 
farther extend and diverfify the train of his ideas, augment 
the number of his defires, and make him contract: new 
habits. 

5. Of Sight alone. 
Sight and all fenfations are internal, and belong to the 
mind. The difficulty is to conceive how we refer thefe fen- 
fations to external objects or caufes. Our ftatue would con- 
fider light and colour as modes of his own exiftence ; but 
could have no idea that they belonged to bodies diftinct from 
himfelf. At firft he would not be able to diftinguifh one 
colour from another ; but he would foon acquire the habit 
of confidering one colour at a time, and thus learn to dif- 
tinguifh them. By fight alone he could have no idea of 
figure, fituation, extenfion, or motion. 

6. Sight united with Smelly Hearing, and Tajle. 

This union would augment our ftatue's mode of exiftence, 
extend the chain of his ideas, and multiply the objects of his 
attention, of his defires, and of his enjoyments. But he 
would ftill continue to perceive himfelf alone, and could 
have no idea of external objects. He would fee, fmell, tafte, 
and hear, without knowing that he had eyes, nofe, mouth, or 
ears, nor even that he had a body. With the fame colour 
before his eyes, if a fucceflion of fmells, favours, and founds, 
were prefented to him, he would confider himfelf as a colour 
A A 



"*08? THE PHILOSOPHY 

facceffively odoriferous, favoury, and fonorous. If the fame 
odour were conftantly prefent with him, he would confider 
himfelf as a favoury, fonorous, and coloured odour, 

7. Of Touching alone. 

The fmalleft degree of fentiment, or feeling, which a man 
limited to the {enk of touching could have, would arife from 
the action of different parts of the body, and particularly 
from the motion of refpiration. This the Abbe calls the 
fundamental fentiment> becaufe with it life commences. As 
foon as this fundamental fentiment has undergone any 
change, the ftatue is confcious of his own exiftence. When 
not {truck by any external body, and placed in a temperate 
tranquil air, of an equal degree of heat, he would only re- 
cognife his exiftence by the confufed impreflion refulting 
from the motion of refpiration. He cannot diftinguifh the 
different parts of his body, and confequently has no idea of 
extenfion. Different feelings perceived at the fame time 
convey a confufed fenfation only. But, when heat and cold 
are felt in fucceflion,- he diftinguilhes them, and retains in 
his memory the idea of each fenfation. Touching different 
parts of his body, and of external objects, gradually unfolds 
the ideas of extenfion, folidity, foftnefs, hardnefs, diftance, &c. 
Hence he no longer confounds himfelf with his modifications. 
He is no longer heat or cold ; but he perceives heat in one 
part and cold in another. By means of the hand, he distin- 
guishes his own perfon from external objects. When he 
touches the parts of his body, each part returns a fenfation. 
But, when he touches another body, he feels that it exifts, 
but returns no fenfation •, and hence he learns that there are 
bodies which conllitute no part of himfelf. 

Children derive the greateft happinefs from motion. 
Even falls do not deter them. A bandage on their eyes 
would give them lefs pain than a reftraint on the ufe of their 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 199 

Kmbs. Motion, belide many other advantages, gives them 
the moft lively confcioufnefs of their own exiftence and pow- 
ers. If exercife be pleafant to children, it would be ftill 
more fo to our ftatue ; for as yet he not only knows no ob- 
ftacle to interrupt his movements, but he will foon expe- 
rience all the pleafures to be derived from motion. The 
ftatue at firft loves every body that does not hurt him. Pol- 
ifhed and fmooth furfaces will be agreeable to him ; and he 
will be delighted to find that he can at pleafure enjoy 
warmth or coolnefs. He will receive peculiar pleafure from 
objects, which, from their figure and magnitude, are moft 
accommodated to the form of his hand. At other times, the 
difficulty of handling objects, on account of their fize or 
weight, will give him pleafure by furprife ; and this pleafure 
will be augmented by the fpace he difcovers around them, 
which will render the motion of his body from one place to 
another extremely agreeable. Solidity and fluidity, hard- 
nefs and foftnefs, motion and reft, will be pleafant fenfations ; 
for the more he contrafts them, the more they will attract 
his attention and extend his ideas. But the habit he acquires 
of comparing and judging is the greateft fource of his pleafures. 
He no longer touches objects folely for the pleafure of hand- 
ling them. He wifhes to know their relations, and he feels 
as many agreeable fenfations as he forms new ideas. 

Touching expofes him more frequently to pain than the 
other fenfes. But pleafure is always within his reach, and 
pain is felt only at intervals. His defires coniift chiefly of 
the efforts of his mind to recal the moft agreeable ideas. 
But that kind of defire of which the fenfe of touch renders 
him capable, includes motion, or the power of fearching 
for fenfations. Hence his enjoyments are not limited to the 
ideas prefented by the imagination, but extend to all the ob- 
jects he can reach ; and his defires, inftead of being concen- 
trated into modes ©f his exiftence, as in the other fenfes, 



200 THE PHILOSOPHY 

lead him always to external bodies, which are the objects of 
his love, hatred, and other pafiions. 

By motion he acquires the idea of fpace. Repeated expe- 
rience of difcovering new fenfations renders him capable of 
curiofity. Bat pain repreffes his defire of moving, and makes 
him diffident. Hence he learns to move with caution ; and 
the fame chance that led him to lay hold of a ftick, will teach 
him to ufe it for exploring what may be hurtful to him. 
Pleafure and pain are the fources of all his ideas, the num- 
ber of which acquirable by our ftatue is almoft infinite. He 
learns to compare his different fenfations, and to diftinguifk 
different bodies. He acquires the idea of figure, and be- 
comes capable of reflection and abftraction. He acquires 
like wife the ideas of number, of duration, of fpace, and of 
immenfity. 

8. Of Touch united with Smelling, 
On this fuppofltion, the ftatue would perceive himfelf to 
be two different beings, one that he could touch, and anoth- 
er which he could npt. When chance made him lay hold 
of an odorous body, he would find that its fmell was ftronger 
or weaker, in proportion as he brought the body nearer, or 
removed it farther from his face. This experiment frequent- 
ly repeated will give him the idea that fmell proceeds from, 
or is a quality of bodies. By the fame means he difcovers 
the organ of fmelling. From this fource his ideas concern- 
ing the qualities of bodies are greatly extended. 

9. Hearings Tafte, and Touching, united. 
At firft our ftatue is totally occupied with this new fenfe, 
and believes himfelf to be the finging of birds, the noife of 
a cafcade, &c. By the exercife, however, of handling fono- 
rous bodies, or of letting them fall, he perceives that found 
is produced by impulfe or collifion, gradually difcovers this 
new organ, and that noife is a property of bodies even at a 
diftance. 



OF NATURAL HISTORT. 201 

10. Of Sight united with all the other Serifes, 
The eye conveys no idea of diftance, of magnitude, of 
figure, or of fituation, without the afliftance of touching. 
Either from chance, or from the pain occafioned by too ftrong 
a light, the flatue carries his hand to his eyes. The colours 
of objects inftantly difappear. He removes his hand, and 
the colours return. Hence he learns that colours are not 
modes of his exiftence, but that they feem to be fomething 
exifting in his eyes, in the fame manner as he feels at the 
ends of his fingers the objects he touches. 

The Abbe, in the fame ingenious manner, fhews how, by 
experience and habit, by motion and touching, we acquire 3 
facility in correcting the errors of vifion. But our limits 
permit us not to follow him an farther. 



#02 THE PHILOSOPHY 



CHAPTER VII. 



Of Infancy. 

JL$Y the term Infancy, in this chapter, is gener- 
ally meant that portion of life which commences at birth, 
and terminates at that period when animals have acquired 
the power of felf-prefervation, without any affiftance from 
their parents. This period varies greatly in different ani- 
mals. Of courfe, when different fpecies are mentioned, the 
term infancy muft have very different limitations with regard 
to time. 

The ftate of infancy, in the human fpecies, continues lon- 
ger than in any other animal. Infants, immediately after 
birth, are indeed extremely helplefs, and require every affift- 
ance and attention from the mother. Moft writers, however, 
on this fubjecl: feem to have exaggerated not only the imbe- 
cility, but the miferies of the infant ftate. ' An infant/ fays 
Buffbn, ' is more helplefs than the young of any other animal : 
4 Its uncertain life feems every moment to vibrate on the 
f borders of death. It can neither move nor fupport its bo- 
t dy : It has hardly force enough to exift, and to announce, 
* by groans, the pain which it fuffers ; as if Nature intended 
f to apprife the little innocent, that it is born to mifery, and 
f that it is to be ranked among human creatures only to par- 
{ take of their infirmities and of their afSiclions*.' 

This humiliating pi&ure is partly juft, and partly mifre- 
prefented. Though infants remain longer in a ftate of im- 
becility than the young of other animals, they are by no 
means more helplefs. The inftant after birth, they are capa- 
ble of fucking whatever is prefented to their mouths. 
When in the fame condition, the young of the opoffum, of 
hares, rabbits, rats, mice, &c. can do more. They can 
* Bu|fon, vol. a, page 369.Tranflat. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 205 

neither move nor fupport their bodies. Befides, many quad- 
rupeds are deftitute of the fenfe of feeing for feveral days 
after birth. But the faculty of vifion is enjoyed by infants 
the moment after they come into the world. This faculty, 
in a few hours, becomes a great fource of pleafure and amufe- 
ment to them ; but it is denied, for fome days, to many 
other fpecies of animals. The young of moft birds are 
equally weak and helplefs as human infants. The former 
have no other powers but thofe of refpiration, opening their 
mouths to receive food from the parent, and ejecting the ex- 
crement, after the food has been properly digefted. If in- 
fants really fuffer more pain and mifery than other animals 
in the fame ftate, Nature feems not to merit that feverity of 
cenfure which fhe has fometimes received. Man in fociety > 
like domeftic animals, by luxury, by artificial modes of living, 
by unnatural and vicious habits, debilitate their bodies, and 
tranfmit to their progeny the feeds of weaknefs and difeafe, 
the effects of which are not felt by thofe who live more agree- 
ably to the general oeconomy and intentions of nature. The 
children of favages, for the fame reafon, whether in the hun- 
ting or fhepherd ftate, are more robuft, more healthy, and 
liable to fewer difeafes than thofe produced by men in the- 
more enlightened and refined ftages of fociety. Even under 
the fame governments, and in the fame ftate of civilization, 
a fimilar gradation of imbecility and difeafe is to be obferved. 
The children of men- of rank and fortune are, in general, 
more puny, debilitated, and difeafed, than thofe of the pea- 
fant or artificer. Still, however, children, in their progrefs 
from birth to maturity, have innumerable fources of pleafure*. 
which alleviate, if they do not fully compenfate, the pain 
which muft unavoidably be endured, whether in a more nat- 
ural or more artificial ftate of mankind. If luxury and civil- 
ization debilitate the confutations of children, they give rife 
to many real enjoyments which are totally unknown to the 



204 



THE PHILOSOPHY 



favage. His wants are fewer ; but his gratifications are mors 
than proportionally diminifhed. 

Though the period of human infancy be proportionally 
long, it is too often increafed by improper management. In 
this, and many other countries of Europe, infants have no 
fooner efcaped from the womb of their mothers, and have 
enjoyed the liberty of ftretching their limbs, than they are 
again condemned to a more cruel and unnatural bondage. 
The head is fixed in one pofition •, the legs are fettered •, the 
arms are bound down to the fides ; and the little innocents 
are laced with bandages fo ftrait that they cannot move a (in- 
gle joint. The reftraint of fwaddling bands muft be pro- 
ductive of pain. Their original intention was to prevent the 
head and limbs from being diftorted by unnatural or hurtful 
pofitions. But it was not confidered, that the efforts made 
by infants to difentangle themfelves, have a greater tendency 
to diftort their members than any poftures they could afTume, 
if they enjoyed a greater degree of liberty. But, if the ef- 
forts for liberty made by infants fettered in this cruel manner 
be hurtful, the ftate of inactivity in which they are forced to 
remain, is, perhaps, equally noxious. Infants, as well as all 
young animals, are extremely prone to motion. It promotes 
the growth and expanfion of their organs. It likewife invig- 
orates all their members, and facilitates the circulation and 
fecretion of their different fluids. But, when infants are de- 
prived of exercife, or of the power of performing their nat- 
ural movements, the oppofite effects are produced. The 
want of exercife retards their growth and weakens their con- 
futation. Thofe children, therefore, who are allowed full 
freedom of motion will always be the mod healthy and the 
moft vigorous. We are, however, happy to remark, that, 
by the efforts of philofophers and phyficians, the practice of 
employing tight bandages has of late become lefs general, 
efpecially among intelligent midwives and mothers. But, t» 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 205 

eradicate long eftablilhed prejudices, and to diffufe more en- 
lightened and falutary notions through a whole country, can- 
not be effected without a great length of time and vigorous 
exertions. 

From what caufes or circumftances particular modes in the 
management of infants originate, it is difficult to determine. 
But it is certain that ravages, and ruder nations, in their treat- 
ment of infants, often difcover more difcernment, and pro- 
priety of conduct, than are to be found in the moft polifhed 
ftages of fociety. The negroes, the favages of Canada, of 
Virginia, of Brafil, and the natives of almoft the whole of 
South America, inftead of ufing fwaddling-bands, lay their 
infants naked into hammocks, or hanging beds of cotton, 
or into cradles lined with fur. The Peruvians leave the 
arms of their infants perfectly loofe in a kind of fwathing- 
bag. When a little older, they are put, up to the middle, in 
a hole dug out of the earth, and lined with linen or cotton. 
By this contrivance, their arms and head are perfectly free, 
and they can bend their bodies, and move their arms and 
head, without the fmalleft danger of falling, or of receiving 
any injury. To entice them to walk, whenever they are 
able to ftep, the breahVis prefented to them at a little diftance. 
The children of negroes, when very young, cling round, 
with their knees and legs, one of their mother's haunches, 
and grafp the breaft with their hands. In this pofition they 
adhere fo firmly, that they fupport themfelves without any 
affiftance, and continue to fuck without danger of falling, 
though the mother moves forward, or works at her ufual la- 
bour. Thefe children, at the end of the fecond month, be- 
gin to creep on their hands and knees ; and, in this fituation, 
they acquire, by habit, the faculty of running with furpriflng 
quicknefs. 

Savages are remarkably attentive to the cleanlinefs of their 

children. Though they cannot afford to change their furs 

B B 



206 THE PHILOSOPHY 

£b frequently as we do our linen, this defect they fuppl'y by 
other fubftances of no value. The favages of North Ameri- 
ca put wood-duft, obtained from decayed trees, into the bot- 
tom of the cradle, and renew it as often as it is neceifary. 
Upon this powder the children are laid, and covered with 
ikins. This powder is very foft, and quickly abforbs moif- 
ture of every kind. The children in Virginia are placed 
naked upon a board covered with cotton, and furnifhed with 
a proper hole for tranfmitting the excrement. This practice 
is like wife aimoft general in the eaftern parts of Europe, and 
particularly in Turkey. It has another advantage : It pre- 
vents the difmal effects which too often proceed from the 
negligence of nurfes. 

Many northern nations plunge their infants, immediately 
after birth, into cold water, without receiving any injury. 
The Laplanders expofe their new-born infants on the fnow 
till they are aimoft dead with cold, and then throw them into 
a warm bath. During the firft year, this feemingly harfii 
treatment is repeated diree times every day. After that pe- 
riod, the children are bathed in cold water thrice every week. 
It is a general opinion in northern regions, that cold bathing 
renders men more healthy and robuft *, and hence they inure 
their children, from their very birth, to this habit. In the 
ifthmus of America, the inhabitants, even when covered with 
fweat, plunge themfelves with impunity into cold water. 
The mothers bathe in cold water, along with their infants, 
the moment after delivery ; yet much fewer of them die of 
child-bearing, than in nations where a practice of this kind 
would be confidered as extremely hazardous. 

With regard to the food of infants, it mould confift, for 
the firft two months, of the mother's milk alone. A child 
may be injured by allowing it any other nourishment before 
the end of the firft month. In Holland, in Italy, in Tur- 
key, and over the whole Levant, children, during the firA 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 207 

year, are not permitted to tafte any other food. The Cana- 
dian favages nurfe their children four or five years, and 
fometimes fix or feven. In cafes of necefiity, the milk of 
quadrupeds may fupply that of the mother. But, in fuch 
cafes, the child fhould be obliged to fuck the animal's teat ; 
for the degree of heat is always uniform and proper, and the 
milk, by the action of the mufcles, is mixed with the faliva, 
which is a great promoter of digeftion. Several robuft peas- 
ants have been known to have had no other nurfes than ewes. 
After two or three months, children may be gradually accuf- 
tomed to food fomewhat more folid than milk. Before the 
teeth (hoot through the gums, infants are incapable of mafti- 
cation. During that period, therefore, it is obvious that Na- 
ture intended they fhould be nourifhed folely by foft fub- 
ftances. But, after they are furni{hed with teeth, it is equal- 
ly obvious, that they fhould cccafionally be allowed food of 
a more folid texture. 

The bodies of infants, though extremely delicate, are lefs 
affected by cold than at any other period of life. This effect 
may be produced by the fuperior quicknefs in the pulfation 
of the heart and arteries which takes place in fmall animals. 
The pulfe of an infant is more frequent than that of an 
adult. The pulfe of a horfe, or of an ox, is much flower 
than that of a man ; and the motion of the heart, in very 
fmall animals, as that of a linnet, is {o rapid that it is impof- 
fibie to count the ftrokes. 

The lives of children, during the firft three or four years, 
are extremely precarious. After that period, their exiftence 
becomes gradually more certain. According to Simpfon's 
tables of the degrees of mortality at different ages, it ap- 
pears, that, of a certain number of infants brought forth at 
the fame time, more than a fourth part of them died in the 
firft year, more than a third in two years, and at leafr one 
half at the end of the third year. Mr. Simpfon made this 



20$ THE PHILOSOPHY 

experiment upon children born in London. But the mor- 
tality of children is not nearly fo great in every place •, for 
M. Dupre de S. Maur, by a number of experiments made in 
France, has fhown, that one half of the children born at the 
fame time are not extincjt in lefs than feven or eight years. 

To treat of the difeafes of children, or to enter minutely 
into the caufes which contribute to the great mortality of 
mankind in earlier infancy, is no part of our plan. In gener- 
al, thefe caufes are to be referred to unnatural practices in 
the management of children, introduced by fu perflation, by 
ignorance, and by foolifh notions arifing from over -refine- 
ment, from prejudice, and from hypothetical fyftems, while 
the oeconomy and analogy of Nature, in the condudl and 
iituation of the inferior animals, are almofl totally neglected. 
Every animal, except the human fpecies, brings forth its 
young without any foreign aid. But incredible numbers of 
children, as well as of mothers,.are daily maimed, enfeebled, 
and deftroyed, by the ignorance and barbarity of midwives 
and accoucheurs. An infant is no fooner brought into the 
world than it is crammed with phyfic. Nature's medicine 
for cleanfing the bowels of infants is the milk of the mother. 
But midwives abfurdly imagine that drugs will anfwer this 
purpofe much better. All other animals that give fuck nurfe 
their own offspring : But we too frequently delegate this 
tender and endearing office to ftrange women, whofe confli- 
tutions, habits of life, and mental difpofitions, are often total- 
ly different from thofe of the genuine parent. Infants, re- 
cently after birth, frequently fufferfrom giving them, inftead 
of the mother's milk, wine-whey, water-gruel, and fimilar 
unnatural kinds of nourifhment. In this period of their ex- 
iftence, however, very little food, but a great deal of reft, 
is neceffary for promoting their health, and fecuring their 
eafe and tranquility ; for infants, when not teazed by 
officious cares, fleep almoft continually during feveral weeks 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 2QS 

after birth. Young animals are naturally fond of being in 
the open air ; but our infants, particularly in large towns, 
are almoft perpetually fhut up in warm, apartments, which 
both relaxes their bodies and enervates their minds. The 
great agility, ftrength, and fine proportions of favages, are 
refults of a hardy education, of living much in the open air, 
and of an unreftrained ufe of all their organs the moment 
after they come into the world. 

In young animals, as well as in infants, there is a gradual 
progrefs, both in bodily and mental powers, from birth to 
maturity. Thefe powers are unfolded fooner or later, ac- 
cording to the nature and exigencies of particular ipecies* 
This progrefs, in man, is very flow. Man acquires not his 
full ftature and ftrength of body till feveral years after the 
age of puberty : And, with regard to his mind, his judg- 
ment and other faculties cannot be faid to be perfectly rip$ 
before his thirtieth year. 

In early infancy, though the imprefhons received from 
new objects muft be ftrong, the memory appears to be weak. 
Many caufes may concur in producing this effect. In this 
period of our exiftence, almoft every object is new, and, of 
courfe, ingroffes the whole attention. Hence the idea of 
any particular object is obliterated by the quick fucceflion 
and novelty of others, joined to the force with which they 
act upon the mind. Haller afcribes this want of recollection 
to a weaknefs of memory ; but it feems rather to proceed 
from a confufion which necefTarily refults from the number 
and ftrong imprefhons of new objects. The memory ripens 
not fo much by a gradual increafe in the ftrength of that 
faculty, as by a diminution in the number and novelty of the 
objects which folicit attention. In a few years children are 
enabled to exprefs all their wants and defires. The number 
of new objects daily diminifhes, and the impreffions made by 
thofe with which they are familiar become comparatively 



210 THE PHILOSOPHY 

fmall and uninterefting. Hence their habits of attention, 
and the ardour of their minds, begin to relax. Inftead of a 
general and undiftinguifhing gratificatien of their fenfes, 
this is the period when it is necefTary to ftimulate children, 
by various artifices, to apply their minds fteadily to the ex- 
amition of particular objects, and to the acquifition of new 
ideas from more complicated and refined fources of informa- 
tion. The great bafis of education is a habit of attention. 
When this important point is gained, the minds of children 
may be molded into any form. But that reftleflhefs, and 
appetite for motion, which Nature, for the wifeft purpofes, 
has implanted in the conftitution of all young animals, fhould 
not be too feverely checked. Health and vigour of body 
are the fureft foundations of ftrength and improvement of 
mind. 

With regard to the duration of infancy, from man to the 
infect tribes, it feems, in general, to be proportioned, not to 
the extent of life, but to the fagacity or mental powers of 
the different claffes of animated beings. The elephant re- 
quires 30 years, and the rhinoceros 20, before- they come to 
perfect maturity, and are enabled to multiply their fpecies. 
But thefe years mark not the period of infancy ; for the ani- 
mals, in a much fhorter time, are capable of procuring their 
own food, and are totally independent of any aid from their 
parents. The fame remark is applicable to the camel, the 
horfe, the larger apes, &c. Their ages of puberty are four, 
two and a half, and three years. But, in thefe quadrupeds, 
the terminations of infancy are much more early. The 
fmaller quadrupeds, as hares, rats, mice, &c. are mature at 
the end of the firft year after birth ; and the Guiney pig 
and rabbit require only five or fix months. There is a gra- 
dation of mental powers, though not without exceptions, 
from the larger to the more minute quadrupeds ; for the 
dog and fox, whofe fagacity is very great, come to maturity 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 211 

in one year, and their flate of infancy is fhort. But, of all 
animals, the infancy and helplefs condition of men are the 
molt prolonged •, and the fuperiority and ductility of his 
mind will not be queftioned. 

The infant flate of birds is very fhort. Moft of the feath- 
ered tribes arrive at perfection in lefs than fix months j and 
their fagacity is comparatively limited. 

With regard to fifhes, if the whale and feal kind, who 
fuckle their young, be excepted, they receive no aid from 
their parents. Fifhes no fooner efcape from the eggs of 
their mother, than they are in a condition to procure nourifh- 
ment, and to provide, in fome meafure, for their own fafety. 
Of the fagacity of fifhes, owing to the element in which 
they live, we have very little knowledge. But their general 
character is fhipidity, joined to a voracious and indifcrimi- 
nating appetite for food. In oppofition to an almoft general 
kw of Nature which fubfifts among other animals, fifhes de- 
vour, without diftinction, every fmaller or weaker animal, 
whether it belongs to a different fpecies, or to their own. 
In animals of a much higher order, voracity of appetite is 
feldom accompanied with ingenuity or elegance of tafte. 
When the principal attention of an animal is engroffed with 
any fenfual appetite, it is a fair conclufion that the mental 
powers are weak, becaufe they are chiefly employed upon 
the groiTeft of all objects. If this obfervation be juft, fifhes 
muft be ranked among the moft ftupid animals of equal mag- 
nitude and activity. 

The infant ftate of infects is a various and complicated 
fubject. After they efcape from the egg t they undergo fo 
many changes, and afTume fuch a variety of forms, that 
it is difficult to determine the period of their existence 
which correfponds to the condition of infancy in the larger 
animals. Different fpecies remain longer or fhorter in the 
form of worms, caterpillars, or grubs, before they are changed 



212 THE PHILOSOPHY 

into chryfalids, and afterwards into flies. When young, like 
other animals, they are fmall and feeble : But, even in their 
mod helplefs condition, with a very few exceptions, Nature 
is their only nurfe. They require no aid from their parents, 
who, in general, are totally unacquainted with their progeny. 
But, as formerly obferved, when treating of kutinct, the 
mothers uniformly depofit their eggs in fituations which af- 
ford both protection and nourishment to their young. The 
parent fly, according to the fpecies, invariably, unlefs reftrain- 
ed by neceflity, depoflts her eggs upon particular plants, 
in the bodies of other animals, in the earth, or in water. 
Whenever, therefore, an infect receives exiftence in its pri- 
mary form, all its wants are fupplied. Though the mother, 
after the worms iflue from the eggs, takes no charge of her 
offspring, and frequently dees not exift at the time they come 
forth, yet, by an unerring and pure inftinct, fhe uniformly 
places them in fituations where the young find proper nour- 
ifhment, and every thing neceffary to their feeble condition. 

To this general law, by which infects are governed, there 
are feveral exceptions. Bees, and fome other flies, not only 
conftruct nefts for their young, but actually feed, and mod 
anxioufly protect them. 

From what has been faid concerning the infancy of ani- 
mals, one general remark merits attention. Nature has uni- 
formly, though by various modes, provided for the nourifh- 
ment and prefervation of all animated beings while they are 
in an infantine ftate. Though the human fpecies continues 
long in that ftate, the attachment and folicitude of both 
parents, inftead of abating, in proportion to the time and la- 
bour beftowed on their progeny, conftantly augment, and 
commonly remain during life. The reciprocal affection of 
parents and children is one of the greateft fources of human 
happinefs. If the love of children were not ftrong, and 
if it did not increafe with time the labour, the conftant 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 213 

attention, the anxiety and fatigue of mothers would be 
infufferable. But here Nature, whofe wifdom is always 
confpicuous, makes affection brave every difficulty, and footh 
every pain. If a child be fickly, and require uncommon 
care, the exertions of the mother are wonderfully fupported : 
Pity unites with love ; and thefe two paffions become fo 
ftrong, that hardmips, and fatigue of every kind, are fuffer- 
ed with chearfulnefs and alacrity. 

With regard to the inferior tribes of animals, Nature has 
hoc been lefs provident. To quadrupeds and birds fhe has 
given a ftrong and marked affection for their offspring, as 
long as parental care is neceffary. But, whenever the young 
begin to be in a condition to protect and provide for them- 
felves, the attachment of the parents gradually fubfides ; 
they become regardlefs of their offspring, at laft banifh them 
with blows, from their prefence, and, after that period, feem 
to have no knowledge of the objects which fo lately engrof- 
fed all the attention of their minds, and occupied all the in- 
duftry and labour of their bodies. — Here the dignity and fu- 
periority of man appears in a confpicuous light. Inftead of 
lofing the knowledge of his offspring after they arrive at ma- 
turity, his affection expands, and embraces grandchildren, 
and great-grandchildren, with equal warmth as if they had 
immediately originated from himfelf. 



C c 



$14 THE PHILOSOPHY 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Of the Growth, and Foody of Animals. 

IT is a law of Nature, that all organized bodies, 
Whether animal or vegetable, require food, in order to ex- 
pand and ftrengthen their parts when young, and to preferve 
health and vigour after they have arrived at maturity. The 
food of animals is digefted in the ftomach and inteftines : 
By this procefs it is converted into chyle, and abforbed by 
the lacteal veffels, in the manner defcribed in Chap. 2. page 
48. But how this chyle, or nutritious matter, after ming- 
ling with the general mafs of blood, contributes to the growth, 
and repairs the wafte of animal bodies, is a myftery which 
probably never will be unfolded by human fagacity. It has, 
however, like many other fecrets of Nature, given rife to 
feveral ingenious theories and conjectures, fome of which 
fhall be flightly mentioned. 

Buffbn confiders the bodies of animals and vegetables as 
what he calls internal moulds. He fays, that the matter of 
nutrition is not applied by juxta-pofition, but that it pene- 
trates the whole mafs \ that each part receives and applies 
thofe particles only which are peculiar and neceiTary to its 
own nature \ and that, by this means, the whole parts of the 
body are gradually and proportionally augmented. This nu- 
tritive matter, he remarks, is organic, and fimilar to the 
body itfelf ; and hence the fize of the body is increafed, 
without any change in its figure or fubftance. The matter 
ejected by the different excretions he confiders to be a fepa- 
ration of the dead from the vivifying and organic parts of 
nourifhment, which are diftributed over the body by an 
active power : This power fimilar to that of gravity, pen- 
etrates the internal fubftance of the body, and attracts the 
organic particles, which are thus puflied on through all it* 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. ^15 

•parts. As thefe organic particles are fimilar to the body It- 
felf, their union with the different parts augments ks iize, 
without changing its figure. To unfold an embryo or germ, 
nothing more is requifite than that it contain, in miniature, 
a body fimilar to the fpecies, and be placed in proper cir- 
cumftances for the acquifition of frefh organic particles to 
increafe its lize and unfold its members. Hence nutrition, 
developement, and reproduction, are all effects of the fame 
caufe. 

This account of the nutrition and growth of organic bodies 
has the appearance of an ingenious theory. But an atten- 
tive reader will ealily perceive, that it contains no other in- 
formation, than that animals and vegetables are nourished 
and grow by the intervention of the nutritious particles of 
food. This is a fact univerfally known and admitted. But 
we are {till as ignorant as ever of the mode by which this 
myfterious operation is performed. 

Other authors have fuppofed that the brain is a large 
gland ; that the nerves diftributed over the whole body are 
the ducts or canals of this gland ; and that the principal ufe 
of the brain is to fecrete nutritious matter, and to tranfmit 
it by the nerves to the various parts of the fyftem, in order 
to expand the different organs of which it is compofed, or 
to repair the wafte they may have fuffered from labour and 
other caufes. 

This theory prefuppofes that the nerves are tubular, and 
contain a fluid : But both of thefe circumftances have hith- 
erto eluded the refearch of the ableft anatomifts. Beildes, 
the learned and indefatigable Doctor Monro, in his Nervous 
Sy/lemy has rendered it highly improbable that the nerves are 
the inftruments of nutrition. The Doctor reafons in the 
following manner. On comparing different animals, he re- 
marks, we find no correfpondence between the fize of their 
brain, the rapidity of their growth, or the quantity of nouriih- 



216 THE PHILOSOPHY 

ment they receive. An ox is fix times heavier than a man ; 
but the brain of an ox weighs not above a fourth part of 
that of a man. On this fuppofition, an ox's brain muft fe- 
crete twenty-four times more nourifhment than a portion 
equal to it of the human brain. In two years an ox acquires 
his full fize. His brain muft, of courfe, be fuppofed to trans- 
mit daily through the nerves two or three pounds of flefh, 
bones, &c. But the much larger brain of a man does not, 
in an equal time, add to his body a fiftieth part of that 
weight. 

' In monfters, fays the Doctor, ( I have found the limbs 
f very plump, though the brain was very fmall. Nay, in 
( fome monfters, the head has been wanting, yet the limbs 
? were as large and perfect as common. In other monfters 
f with one head and two bodies, I have found that the brain 
f furnifhed the nerves of the head and fpinal marrow on the 
€ right fide of the monfter ; yet the left fpinal marrow, at the 

< top of which there was only a fmall medullary knob, about 
« the fize of a large pea, was as perfect as the right one •, and 

* that body, and its limbs, were as large, and as well nourifh- 

* ed, as thofe on the right fide. On the other hand, where 

* there were two heads of the ordinary fize, and only one 
f body, the limbs were not remarkable for their fize. 

<We fee that organs, of which the nerves are fo fmall 

* that we cannot trace them by direction, as the bones, the 

< placenta, &c. grow as quickly as the other organs, in which 
« the nerves are large and numerous. 

« A year after I had cut acrofs the fciatic nerve of a living 

< frog, I could not perceive that limb fmaller than the other ; 
c yet it continued to be infenfible and motionlefs. Nay, 

* when I had broken the bones of the infenfihle limb, or 

< wounded the fkin and flefh, I found that the callus formed, 

* and the wounds healed, as readily as if the nerve had been 
« entire. The event was the fame after dividing, tranfverfe- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 217 

* ly, the lower or pofterior end of the fpinal marrow of the 

* frog. 

< It is well known,' concludes our author, « that, if pow r 
( der of madder root is mixed with the food of a young a.ni- 
.« mal, the bones become red \ or, if a bone has been brok- 
f en, that the callus joining its parts will be red. The ferum 
' of the blood, in the firft place, is deeply tinged ; but the 
f red colour of the bones is not folely, nor even chiefly, owing 

* to the coloured ferum or blood circulating j for I have 
% found, that, after injecting water into the veflels till thefe 

* were emptied of the blood, and that the water came out 
( colourlefs, the tinge in the bones appeared equally deep, 
< and was, therefore, plainly owing to a great quantity of the 
t red earth added to the bones in the time of their growth. 
« But this earth was not transmitted by the nerves ; for the 
.« colour of thefe, as I found, remained unchanged/ 

That the nutritious particles of food are conveyed by the 
arteries, and applied by their extremities to the various parts 
of animal bodies which require to be repaired or expanded, 
is an opinion not only befr fupported by facts, but adopted 
by all the more rational phyfiologifts. The principal facts, 
and arguments in fupport of this theory ihall now be men- 
tioned. 

The chyle, as formerly remarked, is converted into blood. 
The glutinous part of the blood, known by the name of 
coagulable lymph, refembles the white of an egg. That the 
white of an egg is the fole nourifhment of the chick before 
its exclusion, is an eftablifhed fact ; and the conclufion, from 
analogy, that the lymph of blood is deftined for the growth 
and reparation of animal bodies, is by no means unnatural. 
t Without repeating,Mays Dr. Monro, f our extreme uncer- 
i taintyas to the tubular nature of the nerves, and the im- 
i probability that canals fo exceedingly minute as thofe with- 
f in the nerves mult be, and of fuch length, are deftined fo^ 



218 » THE PHILOSOPHY 

< the conveyance of glue, do we not find, that this very mat- 
s ter is feparated by the exhalant branches of the arteries of 

* the peritoneum, pleurae, and other fhut facs, and univerfal- 

< ly, by the branches of the arteries of the cellular mem- 

* brane ? The kinds of matter neceffary for the growth and 

* nourifhment of our feveral organs are fo various and differ- 

< ent in their nature, that it is altogether incredible they 
fi can be furnifhed by the nerves : Thus, water is needed for 
« the extenfion of the fore-part of the eye, vifcid matter for 

* the cryftalline and vitreous humours, earth for the growth 
€ of the bones ; &c. ; whereas we can as eafily conceive 

< thefe to be furnifhed by the arteries, as that, in one place, 

* they fhould furnifh faliva, in another bile, &c. As the 
: * wafte of the feveral organs is carried off by the vefTels, 
f either circulating or abforbent, why fhould we doubt that 

* the circulating fluids can add a particle in the place of one 

* that has been carried off", or that an artery can fupply what 

* has been abforbed by a lymphatic vein ? As it is granted 
' that the fecretion of all other kinds of matter in the bodies 

* of animals is performed by the branches of the arteries, is 
« it not incredible that there fhould be an exception to the 

< general rule in the fecretion of the nourifhment ? Surely 

* that power which can convert the food into blood, and 

< can change the blood into bile and faliva, is fufficient to 

* convert it into nourifhment. 

« I will now add/ continues our author, ( that in calli, 

* cicatrices, or accretions, there are numberlefs new formed 
« vefTels filled, in the living animal, with red blood, and which 

* can readily be injecled. Nay, I found by experiment, 
« that fuch new formed vefTels, produced by the oppofite 
c fides of a wound, unite into continued canals, or anaftamofe. 
c If, then, in a callus, new earthy or ofTeous fibres, and new 

* vefTels, can be formed by the original arteries, muft we 
« not believe that the wafte of this earth, and of thefe vefTels, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 21&' 

i can be ever after fupplied by the arteries which formed 
( them ? If fo, are we not to conclude, that the wafte of 
i other arteries, and of other organs, is fupplied in the fame 
6 manner from the arteries ? If the quantity of blood natu- 

* rally circulating through a limb be diminiihed, as by tying 
( the trunk of the brachial artery, in the operation for an 
( aneurifm, the arm lofes part of its ftrength and fize ; but 
' the lofs is lefs than, at firft fight, might be expected *, be- 
f caufe the anaftomifing (or uniting) canals foon come to be 

* greatly enlarged. 

< Upon the whole/ the Doctor concludes, c there are few 

* points in phyfiology fo clear, as, 1. That the arteries pre- 
pare, and directly fecrete the nourishment in all our or- 
« gans j and, 2. That the nerves do not contain nor conduct 
« the nourifliment, but, by enabling the arteries to act prop- 
« erly, contribute indirectly to nutrition.* 

The ingenious Charles Bonnett endeavors to mow, that 
the parts of all organifed bodies are contained, in miniature, 
in germs or buds ; that thefe germs, when placed in proper 
fituations, gradually unfold and increafe in magnitude ; that 
the various members of animals and vegetables are expand- 
ed, both longitudinally and laterally, by food adapted to 
their refpedtive natures ; and that every germ actually in- 
cludes the rudiments of the whole animals or vegetables 
which are to proceed from it during all fucceflive gene- 
rations. 

With regard to vegetables, it is true, that the feed firft 
produces a fmall tree, which it contained in miniature with- 
in its lobes. At the top of this frnall tree a bud or germ is 
formed, which contains the fhoot or tree that is to fpring 
next feafon. In the fame manner, the fmall tree of the 
fecond year produces a bud which includes a tree for the 
third year 5 and this procefs uniformly goes on as long as 
the tree continues to vegetate. At the extremity of each 



t%6 tkE PHlLOSOPHf 

branch, buds are Iikewife formed, which contain, in minia- 
ture, trees fimilar to that of the firft year. From thefe, and 
fimilar facts, it is concluded, that all thefe germs were con- 
tained in the original feed ; for the firft bud was fucceeded 
by a fimilar bud, which was not unfolded till the fecond 
year, and the third bud was not expanded till the third year ; 
and, of courfe, the feed may be faid to have contained not 
only the whole buds which would be formed in a hundred 
years, but all the feeds, and all the individuals, which 
would fucceffively arrive till the final deftruction of the 
fpecies. 

Thefe facts are known and eftablifhed ; but the reafoning 
deduced from them is fallacious, or, what amounts to the 
fame thing, is perfectly incomprehenfible. The feed is un- 
queftionably the origin or caufe of all future individuals, 
which may be infinite. But the idea that it really contained 
the germs of all the individuals, which were to fpring from 
it as a fource, is not only abfurd, but exceeds all the powers 
of human imagination to conceive. Theories of this kind, 
of which there are too many in almoft every department of 
fcience, hardly merit examination. Every feed, and every 
animal, according to this doctrine, includes in its own body 
an infinite pofterity ! If we afTent to reafonings of this kind, 
we muft lofe ourfelves in the labyrinths of infinity ; and, in- 
ftead of throwing light upon the fubject, we fhall involve it 
in tenfold darknefs. All we know concerning the nature 
of growth and nutrition is extremely limited. We know 
that, in the animal kingdom, nutrition is performed by means 
of the blood, which is forcibly propelled through every part 
of the body by the action of the heart and arteries j and that 
vegetables, in a fimilar manner, are nourished by the afcen- 
fion and diftribution of the fap. But, how the nutritive 
particles are applied to the various parts of organized bodies, 
and how they expand the organs, or repair their continual 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 221 

wafte and loft of fubftance, we muft content ourfelves with 
remaining in perpetual ignorance. 

In general, the food of animals, and particularly of the hu- 
man fpecies, comlfts of animal and vegetable fubftances, 
combined with water or other fluids. The Gentoo, and 
fome other fouthern nations, live entirely upon vegetable 
diet. From the accounts we have of the different «regions of 
the earth, it appears, that the natives of warm climates, 
where the cultivation of plants is practifed, employ a greater 
proportion of vegetable food than in the more northern 
countries. The inhabitants of Lapland have little or no de- 
pendence on the fruits of the earth. They neither low nor 
reap. They ftill remain, and, from the nature of their cli- 
mate, muft forever remain, in the fhepherd ftate. Their 
comparative riches confift entirely of the number of rein-deer 
poiTeiTed by individuals. Their principal nourifhment is de- 
rived from the flefh and milk of thefe animals. In autumn, 
however, they catch great multitudes of fowls, moftofthem 
of the game kind. With thefe, while freih, they not only 
fupply their prefent wants, but dry and preferve them 
through the winter. They likewife kill hares, and other 
animals, which abound in the woods and mountains ; but 
the flelh of the bear is their greateft delicacy. In their lakes 
and rivers, they have inexhauftible ftores of rimes, which, in 
fummer and autumn, they dry in the fun, or in ftoves, and 
in winter they are preferved by the froft. The Laplanders 
drink water, or animal oils ; but never tafle bread or fait. 
They live in a pure air, and have fufficient exercife. Their 
conftitutions are attempered to the coldnefs of the climate ; 
and they are remarkable for vigour and longevity. The 
goat, the (tone, the rheumatifm, and many other difeafes 
which torture the luxurious in milder climes, are totally un- 
known to them. With the few gifts which Nature has be- 
llowed on them, they remain fatisfied, and live happily a- 

Dd 



222 THE PHILOSOPHY 

mong their mountains and their ftorms. If fouthern nations 
afford examples of people who feed nearly on vegetables a- 
lone, the Laplanders furnifh one of the oppofite extreme ; 
for they are almoft. entirely carnivorous animals. 

To Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Britain, the fame ob- 
fer vation is applicable. In thefe countries, animal food is 
much more ufed than in France, Spain, Italy, Barbary, and 
the other fouthern regions of the globe. Many reafons may 
be afiigne J for thefe differences in the food of nations. The 
natural productions of the earth depend entirely on the cli- 
mate. In warm climates, the vegetables which grow ipon- 
taneoufly are both more luxuriant and more various. The 
number and richnefs of their fruits far exceed thofe of cold- 
er regions. From this circumftance, the natives muff be 
ftimulated to ufe a proportionally greater quantity of vege- 
table food ; and we learn from hiftory, and from travellers, 
that this is actually the cafe. In cold countries, on the con- 
trary, vegetables are not only fewer, but more rigid, and 
contain lefs nourifhment. The inhabitants, accordingly, are 
obliged to live principally on animal fubftances. If we ex- 
amine the mode of feeding in different nations, it will be 
found, that in proportion as men approach or recede from 
the poles, a greater or lefs quantity of animal and vegetable 
fubftances are ufed in their diet. Cuftom, laws, and reli- 
gious rites, it muft be allowed, produce confiderable differ- 
ences in the articles of food, among particular nations, which 
have no dependence on climate, or the natural productions 
of the earth. But when men are not fettered or prejudifed 
by extraneous circumftances, or political inftitutions, the na- 
ture of their food, is invariably determined by the climates 
they inhabit. The variety of food, in any country, is likewife 
greatly influenced by culture, and by imitation. Commerce 
occafionally furnifhes new fpecies of food, particularly of the 
vegetable "kind. In Scotland, till about the beginning of this 
century, the common people lived almofi entirely upon grain* 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 225 

Since that period, the culture and ufe of the potatce, of many 
fpecies of coleworts, and of fruits, have been introduced, 
and univerfally diffufed through the nation. 

Whether man was originally intended by Nature to live 
folely upon animal or vegetable food ? is a cmeftion which 
has been much agitated both by the ancients and the mod- 
erns. Many facts and circumftances concur in eftablifhing 
the opinion, that man was defigned to be nourifhed neither 
by animals nor vegetables folely, but by a mixture of both. 
Agriculture is an art, the invention of which muft depend on 
a number of fortuitous circumftances. It requires a long fuc- 
ceffion of ages before favage nations learn this art. They de- 
pend entirely for their fubfiftence upon hunting wild animals, 
fifhing, and fuch fruits as their country happens fpontane- 
oufly to produce. This has uniformly been the manner of 
living among allthe favage nations of which we have any prop- 
er knowledge ; and feems to be a clear proof, that animal 
food is by no means repugnant to the nature of man. Be- 
fides, the furface of the earth, even in the moil luxuriant 
climates, and though aflifted by culture, is not capable of pro- 
ducing vegetable food in fufficient quantity to fupport the 
human race, after any region of it has become fo populous as 
Britain, France, and many other nations. The general prac- 
tice of mankind, when not reftrained by prejudice or fuper- 
ftition, of feeding promifcuoufly on animal and vegetable fub- 
ftances, is a ftrong indication that man is, partly at leaft, a 
carnivorous animal. The Gentoos, though their chief diet 
be vegetables, afford no proper argument againlt thisreafon- 
ing. They are obliged, by their religion, to abftain from 
the flefh of animals ; and they are allowed to ufe milk, which 
is a very nourifhing animal food. Notwithstanding this in- 
dulgence the Gentoos, in general, are a meagre, fickly, and 
feeble race. In hot climates, however, a very great pro- 
portion of vegetable diet may be ufed without any bad con* 
fequences. 



224 THE PHILOSOPHY 

Other arguments, tending to the fame conclusion are de- 
rived not from the cuftom or practices of particular nations, 
but from the Structure of the human body. All ani- 
mals which feed upon vegetables alone, as formerly remarked, 
have Stomachs and interlines proportionally larger than thofe 
that live folely on animal fubflances. Man, like the carni- 
vorous tribes, is furnifhed with cutting and canine teeth, 
and, like the graminivorous, with a double row of grinders. 
The dimeniions of his Stomach and interlines likewife hold a 
mean proportion between thefe two tribes of animals, which 
differ fo effentially in their characters and manners. — From 
thefe and Similar arguments, I have no hesitation to conclude, 
that a promifcuous ufe of animal and vegetable fubftances is 
no deviation from the original nature or destination of man- 
kind, whatever country they may inhabit. 

With regard to the different proportions of animal and 
vegetable food which are moft accommodated to the health 
and vigour of mankind, no general rule can be given that 
could be applicable to different climates, and to the different 
constitutions of individuals. Animal food, it is certain, gives 
vigour to the body, and may be ufed more liberally by the 
active and laborious than thofe who lead a Studious and fe- 
dentary life. A great proportion of vegetable food, and par- 
ticularly of bread, is considered, by the mofl eminent phyfi- 
cians, as beSt adapted for men who are fond of fcience and 
literature •, for full meals of animal food load the Stomach, 
and feldom fail to produce dulnefs, yawning, indolence, and 
many difeafes which often prove fatal. 

The remainder of this chapter, from unavoidable caufes, 
muSt conSiSt of obfervations of a more defultory kind. 

MoSt animals, when they live long on a particular fpecies 
of food, are apt to be affected with difeafes, which generally 
arife from coftivenefs, or its oppofite. The guiney-pigs, 
after being confined for fome time to coleworts, contract a 
loofenefs, which often terminates in death. But, when thofe 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 225 

animals are at full liberty, they prevent this effect, by at} 
inftinct. which teaches them to make frequent changes from 
moifr. to dry food : If they are reftrained in their choice, 
they will eat, as a fuccedaneum, paper, linen, and even wool- 
len cloths. 

Though fome animals, and many vegetables, would be nox- 
ious to man, if ufed as food, yet in general, that matter is 
more regulated by chance and cuftom than by rational mo- 
tives. By experience, and the aid of our fenfes, we acquire 
a tolerable facility of diftinguifhing falutary from noxious 
food. Other animals felect their food inftinctively ; and 
their choice is chiefly determined by the fenfe of fmelling. 
The fpaniel hunts his prey by the fcent -, but the grey-hound 
depends principally upon the ufe of his eye. When the 
grey-hound lofes fight of a hare, he inftantly gives up the 
chace, and looks keenly around him, but never applies his 
nofe, in order to difcover the track. Some rapacious ani- 
mals, as wolves and ravens, difcover carrrion at diftances,, 
which, if we were to judge from our own fenfe of fmelling, 
would appear to be altogether incredible. Others, as eagles^ 
hawks > gulls, &c. furprife us no leis by the acutenefs of their, 
fight. They perceive, from great heights in the air, mice, 
fmall birds, and minute fifties in the water. 

One great caufe of the diffufion of animals over every 
part of the globe, is to be derived from the diverfity of ap- 
petites for particular fpecies of food, implanted by Nature 
in the different tribes. Some fifties are only to be found 
in certain latitudes. Some animals inhabit the frigid, others 
the torrid zones ; fome frequent deferts, mountains, woods, 
lakes, and meadows. In their choice of fituation, they are 
uniformly determined to occupy fuch places as furnifti them 
with food accommodated to their natures. Monkies, the 
elephant, and rhinoceros, fix on the torrid zone, becaufe 
they feed on vegetables which flourifli there during the 



£26 THE PHILOSOPHY 

whole year. The rein-deer inhabit the cold regions of the 
north, becaufe thefe countries produce the greateft quantity 
of the lichen, a fpecies of mofs, which is their beloved food. 
The pelican makes choice of dry and defert places to lay 
her eggs. When her young are hatched, fhe is obliged to 
bring water to them from great diftances. To enable her 
to perform this necefTary office, Nature has provided her 
with a large lac, which extends from the tip of the under 
mandible of her bill to the throat, and holds as much water 
as will fupply her brood for feveral days. This water fhe 
pours into the neft to cool her young, to allay their thirft, 
and to teach them to fwim. Lions, tigers, and other rapa- 
cious animals, refort to thefe nefls, drink the water, and are 
faid not to injure the young # . The goat afcends the rocky 
precipice, to crop the leaves of fhrubs, and other favourite 
plants. The floth and the fquirrel feed upon the leaves and 
the fruit of trees, and are, therefore, furnifhed with feet 
which enable them to climb. Water-fowls live upon fifties, 
infects, and the eggs of fifties. Their bill, neck, wings, legs, 
and whole ftructure, are nicely fitted for enabling them to 
catch the food adapted to their natures. Their feeding upon 
the eggs of fifties accounts for that variety of fifties which 
are often found in lakes and pools on the tops of hills, and 
on high grounds remote from the fea and from rivers. The 
bat and the goat-fucker fly about during the night, when 
the whole air is filled with moths, and other nocturnal in- 
fects. The bear, who acquires a prodigious quantity of fat 
during the fummer, retires to his den, when provifions fail 
him, in winter. For fome months, he receives his fole nour- 
ishment from the abforption of the fat which had been pre- 
vioufly accumulated in the cellular membrane. 

A glutton, brought from Siberia to Drefden, eat every 
day, fays M. Klein, thirty pounds of flefli without being fat- 

* Amoen. Acad, vol. a, p. 41. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 227 

isfied. This fact indicates an amazing digeftive power in fo 
fmall a quadruped ; for the ftory of his fqueezing his fides 
between two trees, in order to make him difgorge, is a mere 
fable*. 

Siberia, Kamtfchatka, and the polar regions, are fuppofed 
to be the abodes of mifery and defolation. They are, it 
muft be allowed,' infefted with numerous tribes of bears, 
foxes, gluttons, and other rapacious animals. But it fhould. 
be confidered, that thefe voracious animals fupply the natives 
with both food and clothing. To elude the attacks of fero- 
city, and to acquire poifefGon of the fkins and carcaffes of 
fuch creatures, the induftry and dexterity of favage nations 
are excited. The furs are demanded by foreigners. The 
inhabitants by this means learn commerce and the arts of 
life ; and, in the progrefs of time, bears and wild beafh be- 
come the inftruments of polifhing a barbarous people. Thus, 
the mod fubftantial good often proceeds from apparent mis- 
fortune. 

There is hardly a plant that is not rejected as food by 
fome animals, and ardently defired by others. The horfe 
yields the common water-hemlock to the goat, and the cow 
the long-leafed water-hemlock to the fheep. The goat, 
again, leaves the aconite, or bane-berries, to the horfe, &c. 
Plants which afford proper nourifhment to fome animals, 
are by others avoided, becaufe they would not only be hurt- 
ful, but even poifonous. Hence no plant is abfolutely dele- 
terious to animal life. Poifon is only a relative term. The 
euphorbia, or fpurge, fo noxious to man, is greedily devour- 
ed by fome of the infect tribes. 

It is a maxim univerfally received, that every animal, af- 
ter birth, grows, or acquires an augmentation of fize. The 
fpider-fly, however, affords an exception. The mother lays 
an egg fo difproportionally large, that no perfon, without 

* Gaz. Literaire, vol, i, page 481. 



THE PHILOSOPHY 

the aid of experience, could believe it to have been produced 
by this infect. When the egg is hatched, a fly proceeds 
From it, which, at the moment of birth, equals the parent in 
magnitude. Upon a ftricter examination of this egg, it has 
been difcovered, that the infect, while in the belly of its 
mother, undergoes a transformation into the nymph or chry- 
falis ftate ; and that, inftead of a worm, a fly is produced 
from it, of the fame dimenfions as the parent. This difcov- 
ery, however, does not diminifh our wonder, that any ani- 
mal fhould actually give birth to a fubftance as large as its 
own body, and that its fize fhould never afterwards receive 
any augmentation*. 

When caterpillars, fome time before their change, are de- 
prived of food, they diminifh to at leaft one half of their 
former fize. Their chryfalids, of courfe, as well as the but- 
terflies which proceed from them, are proportionally fmall. 
From this fact we learn the importance of feeding all young 
animals well till they acquire their full growth. 

It is a remark of the ingenious Reaumur, that fuch in- 
fects as feed upon dead carcafTes, and whofe fecundity is 
great, never attack live animals. The flefh-fly depofits her 
eggs in the bodies of dead animals, where her progeny re- 
ceive that nourifhment w T hich is beft fuited to their constitu- 
tion. But this fly never attempts to lay her eggs in the 
flefh of found and living animals. If Nature had determin- 
ed her to obferve the oppofite conduct, men, quadrupeds, 
and birds, would have been dreadfully afflicted by the ravag- 
es of this Angle infect. Left it might be imagined that the 
flefh-fly feledted dead, inftead of live animals, becaufe, in 
depofiting her eggs, fhe was unable to pierce the fkin of the 
latter, M. de Reaumur made the following experiment, which 
removed every doubt that might arife on the fubject. He 
carefully pulled off all the feathers from the thigh of a young 
* Reaumur, torn. 6, p, 48. ; — and Bonnet, torn, 3. p. 363, — 369. 



©F NATURAL HISTORY. 229 

pigeon, and applied to it a thin flice of beef, in which there 
were hundreds of maggots, The portion of beef was not 
fufiicient to maintain them above a few hours. He fixed it 
to the thigh by a bit of gauze ; and he prevented the pigeon 
from moving, by tying its wings and legs. The maggots 
foon (hewed that their prefent fituation was difagreeable to 
them. Moft of them retired from under the flice of beef •, 
and the few that remained perifhed in a fhort time. Their 
death was probably cccafioned by the degree of heat in the 
pigeon's body being greater than their conftitution could 
bear. Upon the fame pigeon M. de Reaumur performed 
another experiment. He took off the fkin from its thigh, 
laid bare the flefii, and applied immediately another flice of 
beef full of maggots. The animals difcovered evident marks 
of uneafinefs ; and all of them that remained on the fiefh of 
the pigeon were deprived of life, as in the former experi- 
ment, in lefs than an hour. Thus the degree of heat that is 
neceffary to fuch worms as inhabit the interior parts of ani- 
mals, is deftructive to thofe fpecies which Nature has defin- 
ed to feed upon the flefh of dead animals. Hence the worms 
fometimes found in ulcerous fores, muft belong to a different 
fpecies from thofe upon which the above experiments were 
made. 

The growth of fome worms, which feed upon animal or 
vegetable fubftances, is extremely rapid. Redi remarked, 
that thefe creatures, the day after they efcaped from the egg, 
had acquired at leafl double their former fize. At this pe- 
riod he weighed them, and found that each worm weighed 
feven grains •, but that, on the day preceding, it required 
from twenty-five to thirty of them to weigh a fingle grain. 
Hence, in about the fpace of twenty-four hours, each of 
thefe worms had become from 155 to 210 times heavier 
than formerly. This rapidity of growth is remarkable in 

Ee 



230 THE PHILOSOPHY 

thofe maggots which are produced from the eggs of the 
common flefh-fly. 

Before we difmifs this fubjecT, a few obfervations on that 
power, inherent in all animal bodies, of diffblving, and con^ 
Verting into chyle, every nutritive fubftance thrown into the 
ftomach, merit attention. 

In order to explain the procefs of digeftion, fome phyfi- 
cians and philofophers have had recourfe to mechanical force, 
and others to chemical action. The fupporters of mechanical 
force, maintained, that the ftomachs of all animals comminu- 
ted, or broke down into fmall portions, every fpecies of food, 
and prepared it for being converted into chyle. The chemical 
philofophers, on the contrary, fupported the opinion, that 
the food was diiTolved by a fermentation induced by the fa- 
liva and gaftric juices. The difputes which naturally arofe 
from thefe feemingly opposite theories, Stimulated the inqui- 
ries of the ingenious, and produced feveral curious and im- 
portant difcovcries. Reaumur, M'Bride, Stevens, Spalanza- 
ni, Hunter, have all exerted their induftry and talents upon 
this fubjecl:. To give even an abridged view of their differ- 
ent labours would be both tedious, and, at the fame time, 
would not coincide with the defign of this work. I fhall 
therefore confine myfelf to fome remits of their experience 
and labours. Spalanzani, who is a voluminous writer on this 
fubject, relates not only the difcoveries of his predeceflbrs, 
but has enriched his work with numerous experiments and 
obfervations made by himfelf. In his investigation of the 
procefs of digeftion, and the action of the ftomach,. he ob~ 
ferves the following order : 

1. He treats of animals with ftrong mufcular ftomachs, as 
common fowls, turkeys, ducks, geefe, pigeons, &c. 2. Of 
animals with ftomachs of an intermediate confidence, as 
crows, herons, &c. 3. Of animals with membranous ftom- 
achs, as frogs, lizards, earth and water fnakes, vipers, fifties, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 231 

ftieep, the ox, the horfe, the owl, the falcon, the eagle, the 
cat, the dog, man, &c. 

With regard to birds which are furnifhed with mufcular 
ftomachs, or gizzards, Spalanzani, in imitation of Reaumur, 
procured fmall glafs and metal balls and tubes, perforated 
with many holes. Thefe he filled with different kinds of 
food, and forced them down the throats of common fowls, 
turkeys, &c. He filled balls with barley, or other grains, 
in their entire ftate, and allowed them to remain in the ftom- 
achs of ducks, turkeys, and other fowls, for twenty- four, and, 
in fome cafes, for forty-eight hours. He then killed the 
animals, took the balls out of their ftomachs, and after exam- 
ining the grains attentively, he could not difcover that the 
gaftric juice, to the action of which they wery fully expofed 
by the numerous holes in the balls, had made the fmalleft 
impreffion upon them. They fuffered no diminution of 
fize, and exhibited no marks of diiTolution. Thefe experi- 
ments he often repeated upon a number of fowls provided 
with mufcular ftomachs, and the event was uniformly the 
fame : In no inftance did the gaftric juice produce any fol- 
vent effect upon the grain contained in the balls. After 
thefe unfuccefsful attempts, he fufpected, that, though the 
gaftric juice was unable to diffolve grains in their entire 
ftate, it might act as a menftruum upon them when fuffici- 
ently mafticated or bruifed. To afcertain this point, fie af- 
terwards filled his balls with bruifed grains, and introduced 
them into the ftomachs of different fowls, as cocks, ducks, 
turkeys, wood-pigeons, &c. In all the numerous trials, he 
made with bruifed grain, he invariably found, that the grain 
was more or lefs diffolved in proportion to the time the balls 
were allowed to remain in the ftomach. 

Reaumur and Spalanzani, in the courfe of their experi- 
ments upon the digeftion of birds with mufcular ftomachs, 
difcovered a wonderful communicating force which thefe 
ftomachs poffefs. When tin tubes full of grain were thrown 



232 THE PHILOSOPHY 

into the ftomachs of turkeys, and allowed to continue there 
a confiderabie time, they were found to be broken, crufhed, 
or diftorted, in a moft lingular manner. c Having found/ 
f. fays Spalanzani, < that the tin tubes which I ufed for com- 
« mon fowls were incapable of refifting the ftomach of tur- 

* keys, and not happening at that time to be provided with 

< any tin plate of greater thicknefs, I tried to flrengthen 
1 them, by foldering to the ends two circular plates of the 

< fame metal, perforated only with a few holes for the ad- 

< million of the gaftric fluid. But this contrivance was inef- 
« fedlual •, for, after the tubes had been twenty hours in the 

< ftomach of a turkey, the circular plates were driven in, and 
« fome of the tubes were broken, fome comprefTed, and 

* fome diftorted, in the moft irregular manner*.' 

The fmooth and blunt fubftances formerly employed, 
Spalanzani remarks, though fo violently acted upon, could 
not injure the ftomach ; he therefore tried what effects 
would he produced by lharp bodies thrown into the gizzards 
of fowls. He found that the ftomach of a cock, in the fpace 
of twenty-four hours, broke ofF the angles of a piece of 
rough jagged glafs. Upon examining the gizzard, no 
wound or laceration appeared. * Twelve ftrong tin needles,' 
« fays Spalanzani, < were firmly fixed in a ball of lead, the 
' points projecting about a quarter of an inch from the fur- 
« face. Thus armed, it was covered with a cafe of paper, 
« and forced down the throat of a turkey. The bird retain- 
« ed it for a day and a half without fhowing the leaft fymptom 

* of uneafinefs. Why the ftomach fhould have received no 
« injury from fo horrid an inftrument I cannot explain : 

< The points of the twelve needles were broken off clofe to 

< the furface of the ball, except two or three, of which the 

< ftumps projected a little higher. Two of the points of the 
4 needles were found among the food •, the other ten I could 

* Spalanzani 's Differtations, vol. J. p 12. 



GF NATURAL HISTORY. 283 

* not difcover, either in the ftomach or the long track of the 

* inteftines ; and therefore concluded, that they had paffed 
t out at the vent *.' 

The fame author made a fecond experiment feemingly 
fiill more cruel. He fixed twelve fmall lancets, very fharp 
both at the points and edges, in a fimilar ball of lead. ' The 

* lancets,' fays he, c were fuch as I ufe for the direction of 
f fmall animals. The ball was given to a turkey cock, and 

* left eight hours in the ftomach j at the expiration of which 
' time that organ was opened •, but nothing appeared ex- 
« cept the naked ball, the twelve lancets having been broken 

* to pieces. I difcovered three of them in the large intef- 

* tines, pointlefs, and mixed with the excrements ; the other 
F nine were miffing, and had probably been voided at the 
c vent. The ftomach was as found and entire as that which 
4 had received the needles. Two capons, of which one was 
f fubjected to the experiment with the needles, and the 
I other with the lancets, fuftained them equally well.' 

The fmall ftones fo commonly found in the flomachs of 
many of the feathered tribes, have been fuppofed to fheath 
the gizzard, and to enable it to digeft, or at leaft to break 
down into fmall fragments, glafs, iron, wood, ftones, and 
other hard, and even fharp-pointed fubftances. Spalanzani 
has e ndeavoured to prove, that the mufcular action of the 
gizzard is equally powerful, whether the fmall ftones are 
prefent or abfent. To afcertain this point, he took wood- 
pigeons the moment they efcaped from the egg, fed and nurf- 
ed them himfelf till they were able to peck : { They were 
¥ then,' continues our author, « confined in a cage, and fup- 
1 plied at firft with vetches foaked in warm water, and after- 
< wards in a dry and hard ftate. In a month after they had 
f begun to peck, hard bodies, fuch as tin tubes, glafs globules, 
f and fragments of broken glafs, were introduced with the 
1 food. Care was taken that each pigeon ftiould fwallow on= 
* Spalanzani's Diff. vol, I. page 18, 



234 THE PHILOSOPHY 

< ly one of thefe fubftances. In two days afterwards they 
« were killed. Not one of the ftomachs contained a fingle 
« pebble j and yet the tubes were bruifed aud flattened, and 

< the fpherules and bits of glafs blunted and broken : This 
* happened alike to each body ; nor did the fmalleft lacera- 
« tion appear on the coats of the ftomach. , From feveral ex- 
periments of a fimilar nature, and accompanied with the 
fame events, Spalanzani concludes this fubj ect with that can- 
dour which is always a genuine characteriftic of a real philo- 
fophic fpirit. Upon the whole, c it appears/ fays he, l that 

< thefe fmall ftones are not at all neceffary to the trituration 

< of the firmeft food, or the hardeft foreign fubftance, con- 
« trary to the opinion of many anatomifls and phyfiologifts, 

< as well ancient as modern. I will not, however, deny, 
6 that, when put in motion by the gaftric mufcles, they are 
S capable of producing fome effect on the contents of the 
§ ftomach.' 

The celebrated Mr. John Hunter, in his Obfervatiotis on 
Vigefiion*, fairly quotes the modeft conclufion of Spalanzani. 
But he infifts that ftones are extremely ufeful in the com- 
minution of grain, and other fubftances, which conftitute the 
food of many fowls. « In confldering, , Mr. Hunter re- 
marks, « the ftrength of the gizzard, and its probable ef- 
* feels when compared with the human ftomach, it muft ap- 
f pear that the gizzard is, in it(elf, very fit for trituration. 
f We are not, however, to conclude, that ftones are entirely 
' ufelefs ; for, if we compare the ftrength of the mufcles of 
c the jaws of animals who maftigate their food, with thofe 

< of birds who do not, we fliall fay, that the parts are well 

< calculated for the purpofe of maftication ; yet we are not 

< from thence to infer, that the teeth in fuch jaws are ufelefs, 
{ even although we have proof that the gums do the bufi- 
f nefs when the teeth are gone. If ftones are of ufe, which 

* Page i^6, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 23S 

c we may reasonably conclude they are, birds have an ad- 
c vantage over animals having teeth, fo far as ftones are 

* always to be found, while the teeth are not renewed. If we 

< conftantly find in an organ fubftances which can only be 

< fubfervient to the functions of that organ, Should we deny 

* them that ufe, although the part can do its office without 

< them ? The ftones aftift in grinding down the grain, and, 
c by Separating its parts, allow the gaftric juice to come more 

* readily in contact with it.' 

The next feries of experiments were made upon animals 
with what Spalanzani denominates intermediate ftomachs be- 
tween the mufcular and membranous, as ravens, crows, herons, 
&c. The power and action of thefe intermediate ftomachs are 
fuperior tothofe of the membranous kind, but greatly inferior 
to thofe of the mufcular. The tin tubes, or balls, which 
pigeons and turkeys foon flatten and disfigure, remain unal- 
tered in the ftomach of crows. Their gaftric mufcles, how- 
ever, are by no means inert. Though they are unable to 
comprefs or diftort tin tubes, they are capable of producing 
this effect upon thin tubes of lead. Birds wmofe ftomachs 
are of an intermediate kind, with regard to the thicknefs 
and Strength of their mufcular coats, may be denominated 
omnivorous. They eat grafs, herbs, grain, and flefh of every 
kind. When we make experiments, upon the digeftive 
powers of gallinaceous birds, the animals muft be killed be- 
fore we can learn what effects have been produced on the 
fubftances inclcSed in the balls or tubes. But, on crows 
and ravens, experiments of this kind may be repeated as 
often as we pleafe, without deftroying a fingle individual. 
Subftances which they are incapable of digefting, as metal- 
lic tubes, they have the power of difgorging, cr returning 
by the mouth, in the fame manner as falcons, and other birds 
of prey, throw up the feathers and hair of the animals they 
have devoured. In birds of prey, this vomiting is common- 



2S6 THE PHILOSOPHY 

ly performed every twenty-four hours ; but, in crows, it 
happens at leaft every nine, and not unfrequently every two 
or three hours. 

Spalanzani, as in the former experiments, thruft down 
perforated tubes, filled with different fubftances, into the 
ftomachs of crows. Thefe tubes were uniformly thrown up 
by the animals in a few hours. When the tubes were filled 
with entire grains, as wheat or beans, he found that the gaf • 
trie juice, though the tubes, being repeatedly forced down, 
continued in the ftomach for the fpace of forty-eight hours, 
had exerted no folvent power. As the hufks of the feeds 
refifted the action of the gaftric juice, he bruifed them, and 
repeated the experiment. c Four tubes full of this coarfe 

< flour/ fays he, c were given to a crow: They remained 

* eight hours in the ftomach, and proved the juftnefs of my 

* fufpicion ; for, upon examining the contents, I found a- 
1 bove a fourth part wanting. This could arife from no 
« other caufe but folution in the gaftric liquor, with which, 
« the remainder was fully impregnated. Another obferva- 

* tion concurred in proving the fame proportion : The larg- 

* eft bits of wheat and bean were evidently much diminifh- 
« ed : This muft have been owing to the gaftric liquor hav- 
c ing corroded and dhTolved good part of them, as the nitrous 
' acid, diluted with a large quantity of water, gradually con- 
c fumes calcareous fubftances. I replaced what remained of 
c the feeds in the tubes, and committed them again to the 
c ftomach, wherein they remained, at different intervals, 

< twenty-one hours ; at the end of which period they were 

* entirely difTolved ; nothing being left but fome pieces of 

< hufk, and a few inconfiderable fragments of the feeds. 

* Wheat and beans floating iocfe in the cavity of the ftom- 

* ach, undergo the fame alteration as in the tubes. When 
« I fed my crows with thefe feeds, I obferved, that, before 

* they fwallowed them, they fet them under their feet, and 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 23? 

t reduced them to pieces by repeated ftrokes of their long 
e and heavy beaks : And now they digefted them very well ; 
c nay, this procefs was very rapid in comparifon of that" 
1 which took place within the tubes. But, when the birds, eU 
4 ther from exceilive hunger, or violence, fwallowed the feeds 
c entire, the greateft part of them paffed out entire at the 
c anus, or Were vomited. "We cannot, therefore, be fnrprif- 
c ed, that the gaftric juice could not diffolve them within 
s the tubes, fince it was incapable of effecting this procefs 
* within the cavity of the ftomach, where its folvent power is 
c far fuperior.' 

Similar experiments were made with French beans, peafe, 
nut-kernels, bread, apples, and different kinds of flefh and 
fifli, all of which were diffolved, botlj in tubes, and in the 
cavity of the ftomach, by the gaftric juice. 

Spalanzani finifhes his experiments on digeftion with 
thofe animals which have thin membranous ftomachs, This 
clafs comprehends an immenfe number of fpecies, as man, 
quadrupeds, fifties, reptiles. In thefe the coats of the flom- 
ach feem to have little or no action upon their contents, the 
gaftric juice being fully fufficient to break down the food, 
and reduce it to a pulp. 

With regard to man, Dr. Stevens, in an Inaugural DiiTer- 
tation concerning Digeftion, publifhed at Edinburgh in the 
year 1777, made feveral experiments Upon a German, who 
gained a miferable livelyhood by fwallowing ftones for the 
amufement of the people. He began this ftrange practice 
at the age of feven, and had at that time continued it about 
twenty years. He fwallowed fix or eight ftones at a time, 
fome of them as large as a pigeon's egg y and paffed them in 
the natural way. Dr. Stevens thought this poor man would 
be an excellent fubjecl for afcertaining the folvent power of 
the gaftric juice in the human ftomach. The Doctor, ac- 
cordingly, made ufe of him for this purpofe. He made the 

F F 



£3'» THE PHILOSOPHY 

German fwallow a hollow filver fphere, divided into two 
cavities by a partition, and perforated with a great number of 
holes, capable of admitting an ordinary needle. Into one of 
thefe cavities he put four fcruples and a half of raw beef, 
and into the other five fcruples of raw bleak. In twenty-one 
hours the fphere was voided, when the beef had loft a fcru- 
ple and a half, and the fifh two fcruples. A few days after- 
wards, the German fwallowed the fame fphere, which con- 
tained, in one cavity, four fcruples and four grains of raw, 
and, in the other, four fcruples and eight grains of boiled 
beef. The fphere was returned in forty-three hours : The 
raw flefh had loft one fcruple and two grains, and the boiled 
one fcruple and fixteen grains. Sufpecling that, if thefe 
fubftances were divided, the folvent would have a freer accefs 
to them, and more of them would be dilTolved. Dr. Stevens 
procured another fphere, with holes large enough to receive 
a crow's quill. He inclofed fome beef in it a little mafticat- 
ed. In thirty-eight hours after it was fwallowed, it was 
voided quite empty. Perceiving how readily the chewed 
meat was difTolved, he tried whether it would difiblve equal- 
ly foon without being chewed. With this view, he put a 
fcruple and eight grains of pork into one cavity, and the 
fame quantity of cheefe into the other. The fphere was re- 
tained in the German's ftomach and inteftines forty-three 
hours 5 at the end of which time, not the fmalleft quantity 
of either pork or cheefe was to be found in the fphere. He 
next fwallowed the fame fphere, which contained, in one 
partition, fome roafted turkey, and fome boiled fait herring 
in the other. The fphere was voided in forty-fix hours ; 
but no part of the turkey or herring appeared ; for both had 
been completely dilTolved. Having difcovered that animal 
fubftances, though inclofed in tubes, were eafily duTolved by 
the gaftric juice, the Doctor tried whether it would produce 
she fame effect upon vegetables. He, therefore, inclofed an 



•F NATURAL HISTORY. 239 

equal quantity of raw parfnep and potatoe in a fphere. Af- 
ter continuing forty-eight hours in the alimentary canal, not 
a veftige of either remained. Pieces of apple and turnip, 
both raw and boiled, were diflblved in thirty- fix hours. 

It is a comfortable circumftance, that no animal, perhaps, 
except thofe worms which are hatched in the human intef- 
tines, can refift the diflblving power of the gaftric juice. 
Dr. Stevens inclofed live leeches, and earth-worms, in dif- 
ferent fpheres, and made the German fwallow them. When 
the fpheres were difcharged, the animals were not only de- 
prived of life, but completely diflblved, by the operation 
of this powerful menftruum. Hence, if any live reptile 
fliould chance to be fwallowed, we have no reafon to appre- 
hend any danger from fuch an accident. 

The German left Edinburgh before the Doctor had an 
opportunity of making a farther progrefs in his experiments. 
He therefore had recourfe to dogs and ruminating animals. 
In the courfe of his trials upon the folvent power in the gaf- 
tric fluid of dogs, he found that it was capable of dhTolving 
hard bones, and even balls of ivory ; but that, in equal times, 
very little impreflion was made upon potatoes, parfnep, and 
other vegetable fubftances. On the contrary, in the rumi- 
nating animals, as the fheep, the ox, &c. he difcovered, that 
their gaftric juice fpeedily diflblved vegetables, but made no 
impreflion on beef, mutton, and other animal bodies. From 
thele laft experiments, it appears that the different tribes of 
animals are not lefs diftinguifhed by their external figure, 
and by their manners, than by the quality and powers of 
their gaftric juices. Dogs are unable to digeft vegetables, 
and fheep and oxen cannot digeft animal fubftances. As 
the gaftric juice of the human ftomach is capable of dhTolv- 
ing, nearly with equal eafe, both animals and vegetables 
this circumftance affords a ftrong and almoft an irreliftible, 
proof, that Nature originally intended man to feed promiicu- 
oufly upon both. 



240 THE PHILOSOPHY 

Live animals, as long as the vital principle remains ir« 
them, are not affected by the folvent powers of the ftomach. 

* Hence it is/ Mr. Hunter remarks, « that we find animals 

* of various kinds living in the ftomach, or even hatched and 

* bred there ; but the moment that any of thefe lofe the liv- 
? ing principle, they become fubject to the digeftive powers 
? of the ftomach. If it were poffible, for example, for a man's 
'hand to be introduced into the ftomach of a living animal, 

* and kept there for fome confiderable time, it would be found 
c that the diffolvent powers of the ftomach could have no 
« effect upon it : But, if the fame hand were feparated from 

< the body, and introduced into the fame ftomach, we fhould 
f then find, that the ftomach would immediately act upon it. 

< Indeed, if this were, not the cafe, we fhould find that the 
c ftomach itfelf ought to have been made of indigeftible ma- 

* terials ; for, if the living principle was not capable of pre- 
« ferving animal fubftances from undergoing that procefs, 
c the ftomach itfelf would be digefted. But we find on the 
f contrary, that the ftomach, which at one inftant, that is , 

* while pofTefled of the living principle, was capable of refift- 
? ing the digeftive powers which it contained, the next mo- 

* ment, viz. when deprived of the living principle, is itfelf 

* capable of being digefted, either by the digeftive powers of 
« other ftomachs, or by the remains of that power which it 
« had of digefting other things.' 

When bodies are opened fome time after death, a confid- 
erable aperture is frequently found at the greateft extremity 
of the ftomach. f In thefe cafes,' fays Mr. Hunter, « the 
« contents of the ftomach are generally found loofe in the 

* cavity of the abdomen, about the fpleen and diaphragm. 
4 In many fubjects, this digeftive power extends much farth- 

* er than through the ftomach. I have often found, that, 

* after it had diflblved the ftomach at the ufual place, J:he 
? contents of the ftomach had come into contact with the 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 241 

* fpleen, and diaphragm, had partly dhTolved the adjacent 
f fide of the fpleen, and had dhTolved the ftomach quite 

* through •, fo that the contents of the ftomach were found 
« in the cavity of the thorax, and had even affected the lungs 
e in a fmall degree.' 



242 THE PHILOSOPHY 

CHAPTER IX. 
Of the Sexes of Animals and Vegetables* 
-—««$»»-— 

SECTION I. 

Of the Sexes of Animals. 

jHLLL the larger and more perfect animals arc 
diftinguifhed by the fexes of male and female. The bodies 
of males, though not without exceptions, are, in general, 
ftronger, larger, and more active, than thofe of the females. 
In the human fpecies, the male is not only larger than the 
female, but his mufcular fibres are firmer and more compact, 
and his whole frame indicates a fuperior ftrength and robuft- 
nefs of texture. He does not acquire his full growth, and 
befl form, till he arrives at the age of thirty years. But, in 
women, the parts are rounder, and their mufcular fibres 
more feeble and lax than thofe of men, and their growth 
and form are perfect at the age of twenty. A fimilar obfer- 
vation is applicable to the minds of the two fexes. Man is, 
comparatively, a bold, generous, and enterprifing animal. 
Women, on the contrary, are timid, jealous, and difpofed to 
actions which require lefs agility and ftrength. Hence they 
are entitled to claim, and, by their amiable weaknefTes, they 
actually receive our protection. Men are endowed with 
majefty of figure and force of mind ; but beauty, and the 
graces, are the proper characteriftics of women. The laxity 
and foftnefs of their texture may, in fome meafure, account 
for the timidity and liftleflhefs of their difpofition ; for, 
when the bodies of men are relaxed by heat, or by any other 
caufe, their minds become not only timid, but weak, unde- 
termined, and inactive. 



0? NATURAL HISTORY. 245 

The focial intercourfe of women foftens the difpofitions^ 
and foothes the cares and labours of the men. Their 
little female humours, caprices, and follies, give rife to many 
exertions of virtue. They excite in us companion, humani- 
ty, and tendernefs of affection. The delicacy of their bodies, 
and the weaknefs of their minds, require our fupport and 
protection. In return, the gentle and infinuating manners 
of the women have a direct tendency to foften and fmooth 
the natural roughnefs of men. In moft governments, wo- 
men have the entire management and training of children, till 
their characters and difpolitions are almoft fixed for life. 
This is an important office ; and would require more edu- 
cation and fenfe than they commonly receive either from 
nature or art. But their perfevering and unremitting atten- 
tion to their charge, efpecially when children are fick or 
weakly, is fo truly aftonifhmg, that no man could have pa- 
tience to perform the laborious and painful talk. Women 
are likewife faid to fuffer bodily pain with more refolution 
than men. Women reafon rapidly ; but their reafoning, 
though often acute, is feldom folid. 

Modefty is one of the moft diftinguifhing and attractive 
characteristics of the female fex. This is the great defence with 
which Nature has armed them againft the artifices and deceit 
of the males. Modefty has a double effect : It both attracts 
and repels. It heightens the defire of the male, and deters 
him from rudenefs, or improper behaviour. Were women 
deprived of this amiable quality, all their charms would van- 
ifli, and the ardour of love would be extinguifhed. It is, 
therefore, not only the intereft of females to cultivate mod- 
efty, but to guard, with the moft anxious attention, againft 
the fmalleft incroachments. Every attack, however aparent- 
ly infignificant, fhould be repelled with fpirit and intrepidity. 
To men of fenfibility, a fingle glance of the eye will tell 
diem that their conduct is improper, and make them not on- 



244 THE PHILOSOPHY 

ly inftantly defift, but prevent every future attempt. There 
is no part of the female character which men revere fo much 
as modefty. It is the brighteft and mod valuable jewel with 
which a woman can be adorned. A fine woman without 
modefty, inftead of gaining the affections of men, becomes 
an object: of contempt, and even of difguft. It is equally 
the intereft of men to cherifh, and not to injure by indelica- 
cy, a quality from which they derive fo much pleafure and 
advantage. 

It is not unworthy of remark, that modefty is by no mean? 
confined to the human fpecies. Evident traces of it are dis- 
coverable in the brute creation. Even fo low as the infect 
tribes, moft females repel the firft attacks of the males. If 
this is not modefty, it has all the effects of it ; for it height- 
ens the refpedt and affection of the males, and makes them 
employ every alluring art to procure the regard of the fe- 
male. 

It is a curious fact, that moft carnivorous quadrupeds are 
more averfe from devouring women than men. The bears 
of Kamtfchatka follow the women when gathering wjld 
fruits in the woods, and, though moft rapacious animals, do 
them no farther harm than robbing them of part of the fruit*. 
The afpect of man being more bold, may, perhaps, create an 
idea of competition and danger, and excite the ferocity and 
courage of the animal. There feems to be inftinctive ref- 
lect, if not dread, of the human kind implanted in moft ani- 
mals. If this be the cafe, the above fact amounts to a high 
compliment to the women *, for they receive more favour 
from the brute creation than the men. 

With regard to animals, in general, the intercourfe of fex- 

es is neceffary for the multiplication of the fpecies. But, as 

formerly remarkedf , feveral of the lower tribes are enabled 

to multiply without the intervention of fexes. In fome ani- 

* Gazette Literaire, vol. i. page 48a. f See chap. 1. page 30. &c. 



Of natural history. 245 

mals, both fexes are combined in each individual. The earth- 
worm, fnails, and feveral fhell-fifh.es, are hermaphrodites ; 
and yet the conjunction of two is neceffary for their multi- 
plication. Mr. Adanfon, in his account of Senegal, men- 
tions fome {hell-animals which r in order to produce, require 
the union of three individuals. In the polypus, no appear- 
ance of fexual distinction has hitherto been difcovered. 
Nature, however, has not denied them the power of multi- 
plication, which is effected in a very Angular manner*. Cater 
pillars of every denomination are totally deftitute of fexes, 
and are incapable, while they remain in that ftate, of mul- 
tiplying their fpecies. But, after their transformation into 
flies, the diftinction of fexes is apparent, and their fertility 
is exceedingly great. 

Among the larger animals, the difference of flze and 
figure between males and females is not remarkable. The 
moft ftriking diftinctionS arife from the horns, the'tulks, the 
creft, &c. which adorn the head of the male, and are often 
wanting in the female. But, among the infect tribes, fome 
males differ fo greatly from the females, that they have the 
appearance of belonging to a feparate genus. In fome but- 
terflies, for example, the female is deftitute of wings, while 
thofe of the male are very large. The male and female of 
thofe animals called gall-infeEis bear no proportion to each 
other, either in fize or in figure. They adhere for feveral 
months to the items and branches of plants, fhrubs, and 
trees, without any apparent movement. They have every 
appearance of galls, being of a fpherical or oval figure, from 
which circumftance they have received their denomination, 
and were long considered as vegetable fubftances deftitute of 
every degree of animation. Reaumur, however, by a ftrict 
examination of the changes they undergo, and of their in- 
ternal ftructure, difcovered that they belong to the animal 

* See chap. i. page 30, &c, 
G G 



2#6 THE PHILOSOPHY 

kingdom. He found that they contained thoufands of fmaii 
eggs, and that, from thefe eggs, fmall animals were produc- 
ed, which ran about with fome quicknefs, and fpread them- 
felves all over the tree or bufh. After fome days, they at- 
tach themfelves to the item and branches, remain immovea- 
ble, and gradually increafe to their full dimenfions, when 
their bodies are found to contain numbers of eggs. As the 
perfect animal had no apparent motion, and yet multiplied 
ks fpecies, it was firft thought to be an hermaphrodite of a 
Angular kind, and that it was capable of producing without 
any foreign aid. But Reaumur difcovered that they were 
impregnated by fmall flies, and thefe fmall flies were male 
gall infects. The head, the body,, the breaft, and 
the fix limbs of this fly, are of a deep and red colour j and 
the wings, which are proportionally large, are white, and 
bordered with a band of fine carmine red. In the month of 
April, he perceived numbers of thefe flies wandering about 
on the gall-infects. He obferved that they pierced the cov- 
ering of the gall-infects with- a kind of fling fhaped like a 
needle. This circumftance created a fufpicion that thefe flies 
were the males, and that this was their mode of impregnat- 
ing the eggs of the female. To afcertain this point, he open- 
ed a number of gall-infects, which had no uncommon ap- 
pearance, and, in fome of them, he found the males, in eve- 
ry ftage of their exiftence, till they pierced the external 
covering,, came out in the form of perfect flies, and attached 
themfelves, as ufual, to the females. The glow-worm, an 
animal condemned to crawl perpetually on the furface of the 
earth, is a female ; and the male inftead of a reptile, is a 
fcarabaeus, or beetle, furnifhed with four wings. A fpecies 
of phofphorus, emitted from the body of the female, excites 
the attention of this apparently ftrange male, who darts 
down upon her, and actually enables her to continue the 
kind*. The female of another fpecies of beetle is a perfect 
* Reaumur, Oeuvres de Bonnet, torn, z. page 87. edit, 8vo. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 247 

reptile, and has not the fmalleft veftige of wings. But the 
male is a real beetle with four wings, and is fo difpropor- 
tioned to the female in fize, that their junction mould ap- 
pear to be equally fingular as that of a ram with an elephant. 
With regard to the pucerons, or vine-fretters, the males are 
winged ; but the females remain during life totally deftitute 
of wings. In fome fpecies of them, however, the females 
have wings, and thefe inftruments of motion are denied to 
the males. Between the fize of the male and female puce- 
rons, there is likewife a remarkable difproportion. The 
males, particularly thofe which have no wings, are fo com- 
paratively fmall, that they run about, like the male gall-in- 
fects, upon the backs of the females. While this exercife 
continues, which is often very long, the female remains al- 
moft motionlefs. The more infenfibility and liftlefTnefs 
fhown by the female, the male exhibits the greater ardour 
and agility. In this fituation he pafTes whole days without 
taking any nourishment. 

In birds of prey, the females are larger, ftronger, fiercer, 
and more beautiful than the males. This fuperiority of 
Strength and magnitude is conferred on the females, becaufe, 
in general, they are obliged to procure food both for them- 
felves and for their progeny. Vultures, however, are to be 
excepted ; for the males are equal in fize, if they do not 
exceed that of the females. In the gallinaceous tribe of 
birds, on the contrary, the males are larger, more beautiful, 
and more courageous, than the females. The peacock, the 
turkey, the phealant, and the dunghill cock, are remarkable 
examples. Dunghill cocks, efpecially that ]pnd of them 
which are called game-cocks > are the moft intrepidly bold and 
high-fpirited animals in the creation. Nothing but abfolute 
death can make them yield to an antagonift. In the domef- 
tic flate, at leaft, this intrepidity, and this daring fpirit, re- 
fult from competition, and jealoufy of rivals. Game-cocks, 



£4:8 T.HE PHILOSOPHT 

to the difgrace of humanity, are fed and trained with the 
mod fcrupulous attention. For what purpofe ? For the 
cruel amufement and fortuitous emolument of gamblers. 

That there are natural hermaphrodites, I have formerly 
mentioned. But, in man, dogs, cats, unnatural hermaphro- 
dites, if they ever exift, are fo rare, that the celebrated anat- 
omift, Mr. Hunter, declares he never faw a fingle example. 
But, in the horfe, the afs, black-cattle, and fheep, he has 
feen many hermaphrodites. It is faid to be a known 
fact, that, when a cow brings forth two calves, one of them 
a male, and the other a female, the female is incapable of 
propagation, but that the male is a perfect animal. In Eng- 
land, a cow-calf brought forth with a bull-calf is denominat- 
ed a free martin^ and is as well known among farmers as 
either cow or bull. Mr. Hunter remarks, that a cow-calf, 
brought forth in the fituation above mentioned, may be eith- 
er a free martin or a perfect female. « For/ he remarks, 
* I have reafon to believe, that, in black cattle, fuch a deviar 
« tion may be produced without the circumftance of twins \ 
< and, even when there are twins, the one a male, the other 
« a female, they may both have the organs of generation 
« perfectly formed*.' What is called a free martin y or im- 
perfect hermaphrodite, as far as obfervation has hitherto 
extended, is confined to black-cattle. The free martin 
has all the external character i ft ics of a female calf. When 
animals of this defcription are preferved by farmers, it is not 
for the purpofe of propagation, but for yoking with the 
oxen, or fattening for the table. They neither breed, nor, 
what is curious, do they difcover the fmalleft inclination for 
the male, nor does the bull pay the lead attention to them. 

The free martin, in figure, refembles the ox, or fpayed 
heifer. It is considerably larger than the bull or cow, and 
its horns are fimilar to thofe of the ox. * The belly of the 

' Hunter's Obfervations on the Animal Oeconowy, page 49. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 24$ 

<* free martin,' fays Mr. Hunter, * is fimilar to that of an ox, 
6 having more refemblance to that of the cow than of the 
« bull. Free martins are very fufceptible of growing fat 
i with food. The flefh, like that of the ox, or fpayed heifer, 
« is in common much finer in the fibre than either the bull 

< or cow, and is fuppofed to exceed that of the ox or heifer 

* in delicacy of flavour, and bears a higher price at market*.' 
The Romans feem to have had fome knowledge of free mar- 
tins, though they have not tranfmitted to us any peculiari- 
ties in the ftructure of thefe animals. With them, taunts 
was the generic name of the ox kind. They likewife men- 
tion taurae, by which, it is thought, they meant barren cows. 
Columella, when talking of cattle, fays, ( and, like the tau- 

* rae, which occupy the place of fertile cows, fhould be reject- 

* ed f .' Varro likewife informs us, that c the cow which is 

< barren is called tauraJ 

Mr. Hunter gives an anatomical defcription of three free 
martins, the moft. perfect of which we fhall tranfcribe. 

< Mr. Arbuthnot's Free Mariin%. 
( The external parts were rather fmaller than in the cow. 

< The vagina pafled on, as in the cow, to the opening of the 
c urethra, and then it began to contract into a fmall canal, 

* which pafTed on to the divifion of the uterus into two horns •, 

* each horn parTed along the edge of the broad ligament lat- 
c erally towards the ovaria. At the termination of thefe 

< horns were placed both the ovaria and the tefticles \ both 

< were nearly of the fame fize, which was about as large as a 
' fmall nutmeg. To the ovaria I could not find any Fallo- 

* pian tube. To the tefticles were vafa deferentia ; but they 

* Hunter's Obfervations on the Animal Oeconomy, p. 50. f Columella, 
lib. 6. chap. 1%. 

% * This animal was feven years old, had been often yoked with the oxen, 
f at other times went with the cows and bull, but never (howed any defirqj 
5 for cither the one or the other, ' 



250 THE PHILOSOPHY 

€ were imperfect. The left one did not come near the tef* 
f tide ; the right one came clofe to it, but did not terminate 
f in a body called the epididymis. They were both pervious, 
« and opened, into the vagina near the opening of the ure- 
< thra. On the pofterior furface of the bladder, or between 
c the uterus and bladder, were the two bags called veficulae 

* feminales in the male, but much fmaller than what they 

* are in the bull : The duels opened along with the vafa 
f deferentia *.' 

° Hunter's Obfervations on the Animal Oeconomy, page jz. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY.' 25l 

SECTION IL 

Of the Sexes of Plants. 

VV HEN an hypothefis, or theory, has obtained a 
general reception among even the enlightened part of man- 
kind, it is extremely difficult to eradicate the prejudice, eith- 
er by arguments or by facts. There is not a notion more 
generally adopted, than that vegetables have the diftinction 
of fexes, and that the influence of what is called the male is 
indifpenfibly necelTary to the fecundation of the female, or 
feed-bearing plant : A notion which I have long confidered 
as a ftriking example of the danger of rafhly yielding alTent 
to the alluring reductions of analogical reafoning*. 

Every perfon who is acquainted with the fexual theory of 
vegetables, and with the arguments by which it is defended*, 
mu ft acknowledge, that its principal fupport is derived from 
the many beautiful analogies which fubfift between plants 
and animals. Becaufe all animals were fuppofed to propa- 
gate by fexual embraces, and becaufe plants refembled ani- 
mals in their growth, their nourifliment, their diffemina* 
t-ion, and decay, it was therefore concluded, that all vegeta* 

* TKe fubftance of the following facts, and reafoning, was delivered, above 
twenty years ago, in the Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, in prefence of the late 
worthy and learned Dr. Hope, and his ftuder.ts. Dr. Hope, in order to excite 
induftry and attention in his pupils, appoir.Led annually four of their number" 
fo give a lecture, or difcourfe ; upon fome botanical, fubjedt, which he prefcrib» 
ed to them. To me the Profeffor affigned the Sexes of Plants, with the liber- 
ty of oppofing the doctrine of Linnaeus, and his- own. Being at that time a 
very young man, and a ftrict belhver in the fexual fyftem of plants, I willing- 
ly undertook the talk, becaufe I thought I had the chance of mowing fome 
little ingenuity in attempting to fhake a theory which I then imagined to be 
eftabliihed upon the firmeft bafis of fact and experiment. But, after perufing 
Linnaeus's works, and many other books on the fubject, I was aftoniihed to 
find, that this theory was fupported neither by facts nor arguments, which 
could produce conviction even in the moft prejudiced minds. This difeotu fe 
was afterwards publilhed in the firft edition of the Encyclopedia Britannic?, 1 , 



£52 THfc PHILOSOPHY 

bles were either male, female, or hermaphrodite ; and thai 
fexual commerce was equally necefTary for the fecundatioi 
of the vegetable as of the animal tribes. 

This analogy was plaufible, and feemed to beftow a fplen- 
did uniformity on the conduct of Nature. But experiment 
the only teft of natural truths, has totally annihilated this] 
beautiful fabrick. The numberlefs fpecies of vine-fretters, 
of polypi, of millepedes, and of infufion animalcules, multi- 
ply, without having recourfe to the common laws of gener- 
ation. Here, then, the analogy flops ; and, inftead of bring- 
ing aid to the fexualift, operates powerfully agalnft his fav- 
ourite hypothefis. If many fpecies of animals are deftitute 
of all the endearments of love, what fhould induce us to 
fancy that the oak or the mufhroom enjoy thcfe diftin- 
guifhed privileges ? 

The analogy, befides, is frequently contradicted in the or- 
dinary oeconomy of vegetables. It is univerfally allowed, 
For example, that, even in oviparous animals, the eggs can 
only be impregnated while they are in a gelatinous or mere 
embryo ftate. When farther advanced, their membranes, 
or fhells, acquire a confidence fufficient to refift the male- 
influence. But, among the vegetable tribes, every circum- 
ftance is reverfed. In moft hermaphrodite plants, . (I muft 
fpeak in the language of the fyftem), the feeds are not only 
not in a gelatinous ftate, but have acquired confiderable bulk 
and folidity, long before the pollen, or fuppofed fecundat- 
ing duft, is thrown out of its capfules. 

The fame remark is applicable to dioicous plants, or fuch 
as are barren and feed-bearing in different individuals. 
What conciufion is here to be drawn ? Analogy fails ; and 
facts contradict the analogy. The pollen of moft plants 
fheds after the feeds of their refpective fpecies are far ad- 
vanced in ilze and confiftence. If this pollen had the power 
of fecundating, it could feldom impregnate plants of its own 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 253 

fpecies ; becaufe, when it is difcharged, the feeds are paft 
the proper feafon ; but, by flying promifcuoufly abroad, this 
pollen might impregnate different fpecies which happened 
then to be in a fit condition for the reception of male influ- 
ence. Confider the confequences of fuch an arrangement. 
Is not this to make Nature operate againft her own inten- 
tions ? Nature intends that plants fhould multiply and per- 
petuate their kinds ; but the fexual hypothefis makes her 
take the mod effectual meafures to prevent that intention, 
and to introduce univerfal anarchy among the vegetable 
tribes. "Were this theory true, the whole vegetable king- 
dom, in a few years, would be utterly confounded : Inftead 
of a regular fucceffion of marked fpecies, the earth would 
be covered with monftrous productions, which no botanift 
could either recognife or unravel. 

The propagation of plants by fuckers, flips, and cuttings, 
is a curious fact in the hiftory of vegetation. The ftrawber- 
ry is commonly raifed by flips taken from the old root, or 
by fuckers fent off from the plant. In either of thefe meth- 
ods, the plants flourifh, and produce fruit. Many bulbous 
and eye-rooted plants, and moft fhrubs and trees, may be 
propagated in the fame manner. Where, it may be afked, 
do thefe plants procure impregnation ? That they grow, and 
produce fertile fruit, is undeniable ; and yet, according to 
the fexual hypothefis, the pollen of the male is indifpenfibly 
neceffary to the ripening and fertilization of the fruit. By 
means of fuckers, flips, cuttings, and layers, the whole globe 
might be fpread over with vegetables, without the poffibility 
of a fingle impregnation. 

Though the argument from analogy fhould be inconclu- 
five, yet, fay the fexualifts, we appeal to facts. I fhail, 
therefore, give a fhort view of the principal facts employed 
to fupport the fexual intercourfe of plants. 

H H 



25 J THE PHILOSOPHY 

After what has been remarked, it will not be expected 
that I fhould mention thofe parts of Linnaeus's reafoning 
which are derived from analogy. In many inftances, he 
has pufhed analogy fo far beyond all decent limits, that 
it becomes truly ridiculous. For example, he gravely tells 
us, « that the calix reprefents the marriage bed ; the carolla 
c the curtains ,- the filaments the fpermatic vejfels j the anthe- 

* rae the tejles ; the pollen the male femen \ the ftigma the 
( extremity of the female organ ; the ftylus the vagina ; the 
( germen the ovarium j the pericarpium the impregnated ova- 

* rium ; and the feeds the eggs*. 7 

The moft plaufible fact in favour of the fexual hypothefis 
is derived from the culture of the date-bearing palm-tree, 
HafTelquiftf , and fome other travellers, mention their hav- 
ing feen flowering branches of male trees fixed to the fe- 
males by Arabian gardeners, who alledged, that, unlefs thi s 
operation were performed, their dates would neither be 
good nor plentiful. This practice can boaft of an antiquity 
long prior to the notion of fexes in plants. How it came to 
be introduced, it is of little importance to inquire. We 
know that the cuftom is flill faid to prevail ; But we like- 
wife know, that there is not an authentic fact which fhows 
any connection between the practice and the event , though 
that be an effential ingredient in the controverfy. The 
eaftern nations are famous for introducing fuperftition into 
every part of their oeconomy ; and it is equally difficult to 
account for their manners as for their culture of palm trees. 

Mylius's letter to Dr. Watfon, recorded in the Philofophi- 
cal Tranfactions, is an attempt to remove this difficulty, and 
to {how a necefiary connection between the male and female 
palm. Mylius writes to his correfpondent. c That a female 

* palm-tree grew many years in the garden belonging to the 

* Sponfalia Phntarum, in Amoen. Acad. vol. I. page 103. 

f HaffelquifTs Travels, page ih%. 416. Kempfer. Amoen, page 706* 
Tournefort Ifag. page 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 255 

* Royal Academy at Berlin, without producing any ripe or 
« fertile fruit ; that a male branch, with its flowers in full 
< blow, was brought from Leipfic, about twenty German 

* miles from Berlin, and fufpended over the female tree. 

* The refult was, that the female yielded, the fir ft year, 100 
c ripe dates. The fame experiment being repeated the fol- 
c lowing year, 2000 ripe fruit v/ere produced.' 

Not to call Mylius's veracity in queftion, the experiment 
is both inconcluflve and defective. Berlin is not the climate 
of palm trees. The tree, he informs us, bore flowers and 
fruit for thirty years before the trial was made •, but the 
fruit, it is faid, never came to maturity. Plants feldom pro- 
duce ripe fruit in a climate not adapted to their nature, un- 
til they have grown there a long time. Mylius's palm-tree 
had carried unripe fruit for thirty years. According to the 
ufual courfe of exotic plants, therefore, it is natural to think, 
that like the American aloe, the tree, during all this time, 
was making gradual advances toward perfection ; that, when 
the male branch happened to be fufpended over the female, 
the plant had arrived at the higheft degree of maturity it 
could ever acquire in the climate of Berlin ; and, of courfe, 
that the accidental circumftance of fufpendirg the male 
branch over it, at this critical period, might give rife to the 
deception of attributing the ripening of the fruit to the 
prefence of the male branch. The production of 100 ripe 
fruit only the firft year, and 2000 the fecond, is a ftrong 
corroboration of this account of the matter. At any rate, 
the experiment is exceedingly defective and unfatisfactory. 
To convince any man that the fertility of this tree was 
folely owing to fome impregnating virtue communicated to 
it by the male, a branch fhould have been fufpended over 
the female one year, omitted the next, and fo on alternately 
for a fucceffion of feafons, or, as the fexualifls would exprefs 
it, giving her a hufband one year, and denying her that gra- 



256 THE PHILOSOPHY 

tiiication the next. After treating the female in this man- 
ner, if it had uniformly happened, that the fruit ripened 
every year the male branch was fufpended, and that none 
came to maturity when that operation was omitted, then 
there would have been fome foundation for fuppofing a con- 
nection between the ripening of the fruit a-nd the prefence 
of the male branch. But, as this neceflary precaution was 
omitted, the experiment is incomplete, and the conclufion 
drawn from it precipitate and unphilofophic. 

In accounting for the fecundity of all the dioicous* and 
monoecious^ plants, the fexualifts have recourfe to the aid of 
the winds, and of infects. They betake themfelves to this 
ftrange refuge, in order to explain the manner in which fe- 
male plants, when fituated at a diftance from males, are im- 
pregnated. Some of them, as Kalm, and others, are per- 
fectly fatisfied with this fuppofed aerial commerce of vege- 
tables, even when the males are ten, fifteen, or twenty miles 
diftant from the females ! Here, it may be remarked, that 
the multiplication of fpecies is one of the mofl important 
laws of Nature. All the laws of Nature are fixed, fleady, 
and uniform, in their operation : None of their effects are 
abandoned to thofe uncertainties which neceflarily refult 
from chance, or from any fortuitous train of circumflances. 
But, is there any thing, in northern climates at leaft, more 
defultory and capricious than the direction and motion of 
the winds ? Can we form a conception of any thing more 
cafual and uncertain than the wayward paths of infects ? 
The very fuppofition, therefore, that Nature has expofed 
the fertility of a tenth part of the whole vegetable kingdom, 
and many of them, too, plants of the utmoft importance to 
man, and other animals, to fuch accidental caufes, is repug- 

* Plants which have the male character in one individual, and the female in 
another. 

f Plants which have both the male and female chrracters in the fame indi- 
vidual . 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 25*1 

naiit to every idea of found philofophy. Beiides, the re- 
verfe has been proved by Dr. AHton, Camerarius, and Tour- 
nefort. Thefe gentlemen reared female plants of the ipi- 
nage and hemp in fuch fituations, and with £uch fcrupulous 
precautions, to prevent any fuppofed impregnation by means 
of the wind, or of infects, that it is difficult to conceive the 
poffibility of any communication between the males and fe- 
males. Thefe females, however, produced fertile feeds in 
the greateft abundance. 

Since thefe experiments were made, it has been difcover- 
ed, that male flowers are fometimes found lurking on the 
female plants of the fpinage and hemp : And this difcovery 
the fexualifts think fuificient to account for the fuccefs of 
Dr. Alfton's experiments. But, inftead of folving the diffi- 
culty, this circumftance feems to involve it in ftill deeper ob- 
fcurity : for, that the pollen ifluing from the antherae of a 
male flower or two fhould rife, fall, and turn round in every 
direction, fo as to light precifely on the ftigmata of all the 
fuperior, inferior, and circumjacent female flowers, appears 
to exceed the common powers of human faith. Befides ; , 
this circumftance would feem to indicate, that there is no 
fteadinefs in what is called vegetable fexes. We are even told, 
that trees, which had continued many years under the 
character of females, but, from fome ftrange metamorphofls, 
had fuddenly dropped their female forms, and alTumed the 
more robuft features peculiar to the male part of the crea- 
tion ! 

It was hinted above, that all the dioicous, monoecious, as 
well as moft of the hermaphrodite flowers, being impregnat- 
ed by means of the wind, feemed not to accord with the 
rules of philofophizing ; we fhall now examine that doctrine 
more clofely. 

The pollen is allowed to be too large to get admiflion into 
the ftigmata, though laid upon them with the greateft dex- 



£58 THE PHILOSOPHY 

terity. This difficulty the fexualifts imagine to be removed, 
when they tell us, that moifture makes the pollen fplit, and 
difcharge a fubtle aura, and that this aura impregnates the 
feeds. But, though the pollen fhould explode by the appli- 
cation of moifture, and difcharge a fubtle aura, this explo- 
sion could never effect the purpofes of impregnation : For, 
when the pollen was lying on the ftigma, the aura muft ne- 
ceiTarily blow off, in (lead of being abforbed by that part of 
the plant. Is not the fuppofltion fingular, and even contra- 
dictory, that a plant fhould be impregnated by a fubftance 
forcibly blown away from the female ? 

This reafoning proceeds upon the admifiion, that the pol- 
len is laid with dexterity upon the ftigma. But it will re- 
ceive additional force, when I defy all the naturalifts in the 
univerfe to produce an inftance of a Angle grain of pollen 
being ever feen on any part of a female plant, even when at 
no great diftance from a male, far lefs upon the ftigmata of 
each feparate flower. Granting, however, the pollen to be 
carried off from the male by the wind, yet, as the fuppofed 
fecundating aura it contains is much lighter than air, and is 
difcharged by the flighted moifture, it can never fall down 
upon the diftant females, but muft rile and diflipate in the 
higher regions of the atmofphere. It may alfo be difcharg- 
ed by the application of rain or dews before the pollen is car- 
ried off by the wind from the male flowers : And, if the 
winds blow in a direction contrary to the fltuation of the fe- 
male plants for a few critical hours, the females muft be ren- 
dered barren, at leaft for a feafon. 

It is an eftablifhed fact, that coleworts, turnips, &c. when 
growing in gardens, fometimes produce new varieties. Thefe 
varieties the fexualifts uniformly hold up as inftances of hy- 
brids, or mongrels, from fortuitous commixtures of different 
males and females. This concluiion, however, feems to be 
precipitate. It is well known to nurferymen and gardeners, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 259 

that, from feeds of the fame individual plants, varieties 
fometimes appear. If thefe varieties chance to have any 
qualities fuperior in value to the original plants, their feeds, 
fhoots, or flips, are collected, and the new kind is propagat- 
ed with diligence. That the beauty of flowers, and the 
magnitude and flavour of fruits are improveable by particu- 
lar modes of culture, and even by unknown accidents, is an 
undeniable truth : That thefe improved qualities, in what- 
ever manner procured, continue in the kind unlefs allowed to 
degenerate by negligence, is not lefs true. But there is nothing 
fo wonderful in thefe phenomena as to require the moll un- 
bounded frretches of fancy to account for them. Are not 
the beauty, ftrength, and magnitude of animals, equally im- 
proveable by culture ? Does not an ox, tranfported from 
the comparatively barren mountains of Scotland, to the rich 
paftures of Yorkfhire, affume qualities very different from 
thofe he originally pofferTed ? Why, then, fhould an incon- 
fiderable change in the conflitution of a colewort, or a tur* 
nip, excite furprife ? Plants are liable to be diverfified by 
mimberlefs accidents. Perpetually fixed to the fame local 
fituation, they muft receive, indifcriminately, fuch nourifli* 
ment as is transmitted to them by the earth and air. When 
different kinds happen to grow very near each other, and, 
as they have not the choice of rejecting fuch food as is pre- 
fented to them, may not exudations from the one be abforb- 
ed by the roots of the other ? May not the matter which 
tranfpires fo copioufly from the leaves and flowers of one 
plant be conveyed to, and abforbed by, thofe of a different 
kind ? And may not this foreign nourifhment occafional- 
ly introduce fome changes in the colour, texture, or flavour, 
of the leaves, flowers, or fruit ? Nay, is it not reafonable 
to fuppofe, that folutions of various mineral fubitances, the 
action of particular manures, and a thoufand other circum- 
ftances, may often induce fuch changes ? Why, then, 
fhould we have recourfe to unnatural and {trained analo- 



260 THE PHILOSOPHY \ 

gies, when the phenomena may be folved upon the princi- 
ples of found philofophy ? 

The learned Dr. Hope, late Profeflbr of Botany in the 
Univerfity of Edinburgh, who was a ftrenuous fupporter of 
"Vegetable fexes, thought he had almoft eirablifhed the theo- 
ry by the following experiment upon the lychnis dioica, of 
which two varieties are natives of Scotland, the one bearing 
white, and the other red flowers. The Doctor, about twelve 
years ago, raifed a white female and a red male under the 
Fame glafs-bell, which was funk fo far in the foil as to prevent 
ail communication with other vegetables. The bell termi- 
nated in a tube, which, for the occafional introduction of a 
little frefh air, was fluffed with mofs. The feeds of the 
white female were fown next feafon ; and, inftead of white, 
the plants produced red flowers, in confequence, it was 
imagined, of the influence of the male upon the female. 
He likewife aflerted, that the red kind, when left to Nature, 
never brought forth white flowers, nor the white kind red 
flowers. 

Upon this experiment we have to remark, 1. That noth- 
ing is more dangerous, or more fallacious in philofophy, than 
the affumption of general pofitions without an accurate in- 
vestigation. The Doctor advanced, for example, that the 
red and white lychnis, when in a natural ftate, never change 
their colours. This pofltion is neither capable of admiflion 
nor denial ; becaufe no experiment, nor inquiry, feems ever 
to have been made on the fubject : Yet it is affumed as a 
premife to the conclufion, that the change of the white into 
a red lychnis was occafloncd by the influence of the red male 
upon the white female. 

2. That hybrids, or mules, uniformly participate of both 
the fpecies or varieties by which they are engendered. A jack- 
afs and mare never produce a Ample afs or horfe, but a mule, 
or mixture of the two. It fhould feem, however, that this 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 261 

red lychnis transfufed its own individual qualities, without 
allowing a Angle particle of the female to appear. This is 
contrary to every analogy. If the change had originated 
from iexual commixture, the progeny ought not to have 
been completely red, but pied, or a mixture of red and 
white. To whatever caufe, therefore, this change may be 
attributed, it can never be afcribed to any thing analogous 
to generation. 

S. That colour is a delicate and fluctuating quality. It 
depends ib much on light, air, health, and perhaps fome un- 
known caufes, that botanifts, with great propriety, have re- 
jected it as a fpecific character. Sufpecting that caufes of 
this nature might change the colour of the white lychnis un- 
der confideration, I examined the condition of fome plants 
then fubjected to the fame trials in our Botanic Garden. 
The flowers both of the red and white lychnis were then in 
full blow under the bell, the glafs of which was thick, and 
of a darker green than our common beer-bottles. The 
light, of courfe, tranfmitted to the plants was lurid and ob- 
fcure. They were alfo deprived of a free circulation of air. 
Under thefe unnatural circumftances, the plants had a fickly 
afpect. The flowers of the red variety, inftead of a vivid 
red, were almofl: perfectly white. Here we have nearly an 
equal change made upon the lame plant, without the pofli- 
bility of its being effected by the intercourfe of fexes. If 
plants are thus deprived of proper light and air, it cannot 
be furprifing to fee changes produced in the colour of their 
immediate defcendents. The contaminated air efcaping 
from the plants themfelves, and from the foil under the bell, 
may be fufBcient to produce this effect. I formerly men- 
tioned, that the colour and other qualities of plants grow- 
ing near each other, may be changed by abforbing the mat- 
ter of tranfpiration and exudation. The argument is appli- 
cable with the peculiar force to plants imprifoned fo clofely, 

I i 



Z&2, THE PHILOSOPHY 

and having fo little accefs to frefti air. In this fituatiotf, 
they muft, of neceflity, feed upon each other. Confine a 
man and a woman for years in a fmall ill-aired cell, and ol> 
ferve their afpect, and that of their progeny. Their ap- 
pearance will be very different from that of children pro- 
duced by healthy parents, and enjoying the benefit of the 
fan's rays, and of the open air. 

4. That, independently of all thefe arguments, the experi- 
ment is n incompleted Even on the fuppofition of the exift- 
ence of fexes in plants, the conclufion drawn from it cannot 
be admitted. The fame change, for inftance, might have 
happened, if, inftead of a white female and red male, a 
white female had been imprifoned with a red female. In 
this cafe there could be no commixture of fexes ; and yet, 
it is highly probable, that both would have ripened their 
feeds, and that thele feeds would have produced plants dif- 
ferently coloured from the fame varieties growing in a natur- 
ral ftate. Till thefe indifpenfible parts of the experiment, 
therefore, be tried, nothing can be concluded in favour of 
the fexual fyftem. 

5. That flowers growing from the fame root, fruits upon 
the fame tree, or raifed from feeds of the fame individual 
plant, often vary in colour, fize, figure, and texture. Thefe 
varieties are apparent to the moft fuperficial obfervers ; but 
they can never, with any degree of propriety, be afcribed to 
the influence of fex. The caufes of fuch variations are 
rather to be looked for in the expofure of the plants with 
regard to light and air, the nature of the foil, the mode of 
culture, accidental injuries from clews, from electrical fire, 
from the poifon or wounds of infects, and from the abforp- 
tion of mineral folutions. In a word, if we are to hope for 
an explanation of thefe, and other minute changes in the ap- 
pearances of plants, recourfe muft be had to chemical and 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 263 

philofophical principles, and not to an hypothetical com- 
merce of fexes. 

The difcourfe was concluded with the following fentiment : 
But I aim not at complete refutation ; for experiments are 
ftill to be made. I only wifh to render the fexual commerce 
of plants fufpicious, that the minds of men may be freed 
from the fetters of a fyftem, which has, perhaps, too long 
received the general aflent of Europe -, and that the oecono- 
my of the vegetable kingdom may again be open to impar- 
tial investigation.. 

To remove the pofnbility of male influence being convey- 
ed by means of the wind, or of infects, about ten or twelve 
years ago, I thought, if a female plant could ripen her feeds 
within doors during the winter, the experiment would infal- 
libly determine the controverfy. With this view, I confin- 
ed a female lychnis, which is a native plant of this country, 
and gave her fuch a degree of heat as made her produce 
flowers three months before any male flowers of the fame 
fpecies were blown in Britain. The flowers and the young 
feed had every appearance of health and vigour. But the 
plant itfelf, as ufuaily happens to vegetables when forced to 
grow in unnatural Situations, was feeble, flender, and double 
the common length it acquires in the fields. I waited the 
event. My expectations, however, were difappointed ; for 
the flowers dropped long before the feeds were ripened. 
The plant was kept three years in the fame Situation ; but 
ftill the flowers dropped, and no ripe feeds were produced. 
As the health of plants like that of animals, depends upon 
many circumftances, as expofure to the open air, to light, to 
the agitations of the wind, which to them anfwers the invig- 
orating purpofe of exercife, to nocturnal dews, to natural 
rains, inftead of artificial waterings, &c. I refolved to place 
the female lychnis in a fituation where ihe might GXijoy all 
thefe advantages, and at the fame time be removed from 



264 THE PHILOSOPHY 

every fufpicion of a connexion with male influence. For 
this purpofe, I applied to my learned and ingenious friend 
Dr. Daniel Rutherford, now Profeffor of Botany in the Uni- 
verfity of Edinburgh, who, at that time, had a fmall garden, 
or rather a little area, in the heart of the city, which was 
furrounded with houfes of five and fix flories high, and dis- 
tant from any male lychnis about an Englifh mile. Dr. 
Rutherford received this female lychnis into his garden. 
The firft fummer after her admiffion, being enfeebled by her 
former three years confinement, fhe dropped her flowers, 
without producing fertile feeds. During three or four fuc- 
ceeding years, however, fhe remained in the fame fituation ; 
and llie not only ripened her feeds, but thefe feeds vegetat- 
ed, without the poffibility of any male impregnation ; for 
the Doctor, after the young plants were in a ftate of difcrimi- 
nation, uniformly extirpated all the males, and never could 
difcover the veftige of a fingle male upon the female plants. 
Her female progeny, however, continued to bear fertile feeds 
for feveral fucceffive generations. If, after this, and fome 
experiments formerly mentioned, any fexualift choofes to 
have recourfe to the wind, and to infects, he may enjoy his 
theory ; but few men of penetration will join him in opinion. 

But, if thefe facts and reafonings fhould not be fufficient 
to convince every believer in the fexual fyftem of plants that 
the hypothefis has no foundation in Nature, Spalanzani, 
a late ingenious Italian naturalift, has, by a number of expe- 
riments, removed the poffibility of any rational doubt on the 
fubject. 

Spalanzani, in order to make a complete inveftigation of 
this fubject, performed a number of experiments on what 
are called hermaphrodite, monoecious and dioicous plants. 

Hermaphrodite plants comprehend all thofe which have 
ftamina and piflils, or the male and female organs, in the 
fame flowers. To difcover whether the pollen had any in- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 265 

fluence upon the fertility of the feeds, Spalanzani forced op- 
en the petals, or flower-leaves, fome time before they began 
to expand. He then cut off all the ftamina, or male parts, 
before he fuppofed foecundating duft was ripe, leaving the 
female part to its fate. The refult was, that, in many of the 
plants, the feeds did not ripen, or even ac quire their full 
fize ; in others, they grew to the natural fize ; but after be- 
ing committed to the ground, they did not germinate. 
Above thirty years ago, a fimilar fet of experiments were 
made, in the Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, by the late 
Dr. Alfton, the then ProferTor of Botany. But, whether 
Dr. Alfton's experiments were performed with greater dex- 
terity than thofe of Spalanzani, it is impoflible to determine. 
The event, however, was the reverfe •, for Dr. Alfton's 
plants, which were treated in the fame manner with thofe of 
Spalanzani, not only ripened their feeds, but thefe feeds, 
when fown, were found to be as fertile as if no fuch opera- 
tion had been performed. But no experiments of this kind 
can be made with any degree of certainty upon hermaphro- 
dite plants ; becaufe they are impracticable, without wound- 
ing and injuring the tender flowers. By forcing open the 
petals fome days before they would naturally unfold, the in- 
terior parts of the flowers are prematurely expofed to the 
action of the air, of dews, and of the fun's rays. Befides, 
no man can determine what changes the young feeds may 
undergo, what injury they may fuffer, by an unnatural de- 
privation of the ftamina. In every flower treated in this 
rough manner, an extravafation of fap muft unavoidably be 
produced. If a pregnant animal is wounded, and in a part 
too fo intimately connected with the foetus, what reafon have 
we to expect a fertile and well-proportioned offspring ? 

Spalanzani next proceeded to trials on the monoecious 
plants, or thofe which bear both male and female flowers 
feparately on the fame -individual. In fpring 1777, he fow- 



$66 THE PHILOSOPHY 

ed two fpecies of the pumpion, which belong to this divifioti 
of plants, in a fituation removed from every fufpicion of for- 
eign connection by means of the wind or of infects. « In the 
beginning of June/ fays he, ( two individuals, for I had ord- 
ered two only to be raifed, were juft beginning to put 
forth a few flower-buds towards the bottom of the ftalk. 
At this early period, the male flowers may be eafily diftin- 
guifhed from the female. The former alfo denominated 
barren by botanifts, have a flender ftalk ; while the ftalk 
of the latter, where it joins the calyx, forms a tumor, con- 
firming of the immature fruit. I paid daily vifits to thefe 
two individuals, and very carefully watched the progrefs of 
both forts of flowers. That there might be no fufpicion 
of the pollen exerting any influence upon the females, the 
males were deftroyed at their firft appearance. As fruit, 
when a fmall quantity only is left upon a plant, is fooner 
ripe, and grows to a larger fize, becaufe it receives a great- 
er quantity of nutritious juice, I left on each of my two in- 
dividuals two flowers only. The buds that made their ap- 
pearance afterwards were taken away, along with the male 
flowers. Meanwhile my four gourds grew rapidly. Find- 
ing that, towards the middle of September, they had at- 
tained the ufual fize, I gathered one, in order to infpect the 
internal parts. The flefh was too foft, becaufe the fruit was 
not thoroughly ripe ; but, in colour, ft.ru cture, and tafte, it 
refembled fruit produced by plants which had their male 
flowers. The feeds were in a great number, and, as well 
internally as externally, were perfectly formed. At the 
end of the month, the other three gourds were quite ripe. 
I therefore gathered them, and put the feeds of each into 
a feparate box, that I might be able to examine them at 
pleafure. The lobes filled the whole infide of the feeds, 
and had all the characters of perfect maturity. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 267 

< Thus far,' continues our author, < there is a perfect 

* agreement with the obfervations made on the feeds offome 

< hermaphrodite plants, which feemed, notwithstanding they 
1 were deprived of the efficacy of the pollen, to have acquir- 

* ed the fame degree of perfection as thofe impregnated in 
c the ufual manner. But, as they did not grow, however 
c perfect they might be in appearance, becaufe they had not 

* been vivified by the pollen, I imagined, that, for the fame 

* reafon, the feeds of my three gourds would not grow. It 
c was, however, proper to make the experiment. I therefore 
' dried one hundred and fifty in the fun, and afterwards 

< planted them in three pots, fifty in each, taken from fepa- 

* rate gourds. But the latenefs of the feafon, it being the 

< lGth of October, the conftant rain, and the collnefs occa- 
* fioned by it, circumfhnces unfavourable to vegetation, 
' obliged me to place my pots in a ftove, which, though it 
( was not heated, was kept warm by a contiguous chimney. 
c The event did not by any means correfpond to my expeclaticn* I 
c took it for granted^ that fione of the feeds would germinate ; 
' and yet they almofl all came up very well *.' 

Here it is pleafant to obferve candour and fair experiment 
triumphing over deep prejudice. From the above, and many 
other pafTages, it is evident that Spalanzani was a keen fex- 
ualift, and that he expected his experiments, inftead of over- 
throwing, would confirm his faith ; but, like a true philofo- 
pher, he candidly, though with reluctance, unhinges his fa- 
vourite opinion. 

8 I referved the remainder of the feeds,' continues Spalan^ 
zani, { for another experiment to be made the following 

* fpring. Before it can be afTerted that fructification has 
c been complete, it is necefFary, according to the deter - 
1 mination of botanifts, not only that the feeds fhould grow, 
1 but that they fhould alfo be capable of bringing productive 

* SpalanZani's Differtations, vol. %. p. 276. &c, 



266 THE PHILOSOPHY 

c feeds, or, in other words, of perpetuating the fpecies. That 
« I might learn whether the feeds of my three gourds enjoy- 

* ed this prerogative, caufed fome of them to be planted in 
' the fame place in May 1778 ; and, when they were grown 

* to fome fize, they were, as in the foregoing experiment, 
1 carefully ftripped of all their male flowers, one female 
' flower only being left on each individual. Thefe flowers 

* were furniihed with fmall gourds, which grew ripe towards 
« the beginning of autumn, and the feeds they produced grew 

* juft as well as the former *.' 

With regard to dioicous plants, or thofe which produce 
male flowers on one individual and female flowers on another, 
they are by far the moil unexceptionable fubjects for deter- 
mining the exiflence or non-exiftence of fexes in plants. 
Accordingly, Bonnet, Fourgeroux, and Spalanzani, &c. about 
the year 1770, placed female plants of this defcription in 
jfttuations fo ftriclly guarded againfl the poflibility of foecun- 
datingduft being conveyed to the females either by the air 
or by infects, that the luppofition of male influence baffles 
all the powers of imagination. Thefe females, however, 
uniformly produced ripe feeds ; and thefe feeds were as pro- 
lific as if they had been furrounded with males. 

From the facts and arguments above related, and many 
others which might be adduced, it appears, that this beauti- 
ful theory, derived from a miftaken analogy, has no founda- 
tion in Nature. I would not have dwelt fo long on this fub- 
je6l, if I had not fincerely wifhed that the minds of men 
might be emancipated from the fetters of a fyftem which has 
too long received the almoft univerfal aflent of the literary 
world ; and that the oeconomy of the vegetable kingdom 
may again be open to impartial inquiries. 
* Spalanzani's Diflertations, vol. 2. p, 278. 



0* NATURAL HISTORY. 269 



CHAPTER X. 



Of the Puberty of Animals* 

JL HE puberty of animals commences at that period 
of their exiftence when Nature endows them with the pow- 
er of multiplying the fpecies. This period is as various as 
the different tribes of animals. In fome it arrives fooner, in 
others later •, but, in every animal, it is accompanied with 
fome remarkable changes in conftitution and affections. From 
infancy to puberty there is a gradual increafe of fize ; but, 
immediately after that period, in both fexes, the growth of 
the body makes a fudden fpring, and acquires redoubled 
ftrength and activity. The growth of animals, however, 
does not always ftop at the age of puberty. Men, quadru- 
peds, and fifhes, continue to grow for fome time after their 
capacity of multiplying. But mofl birds and infects feem to 
acquire their full dimenfions before they arrive at the age of 
puberty. 

Before puberty, the voice of a man, like that of a woman, 
is fhrill and feeble. But, after that period, it becomes rough 
and ftrong. This effect is produced by fome unaccountable 
and fudden change in the organs of fpeech, which is not 
confined to the human fpecies ; for the voice of a horfe or a 
bull is deeper after than before puberty. In eunuchs, no fuch 
alteration of voice is to be obferved ; for their voice, though 
fhrill and piercing, can never produce a low or deep note. 
At this period, too, that diftinguifhing characterise of man, 
the beard, begins to appear, together with other external 
and internal changes, which it is unneceffary to relate. But 
eunuchs are totally deftitute of beards. Thefe two facts 
indicate a connection which, merits the attention of phi- 
lofophers. 

K K 



9OT THE PHILOSOPHY 

With regard to the female fex, they are by no means ex- 
empted from conditutional changes when they arrive at the 
age of puberty. The alteration in the tone of their voice, if 
it does happen, is hardly perceptible. Neither are their 
faces deformed by a beard, which, according to our prefent 
ideas, would have a difguding effect. At this period, how- 
ever,. their mammae fwell, and a periodical evacuation takes 
place, which produces wonderful revolutions in their confti- 
tiition and affections. In both fexes, the mental changes 
are not lefs remarkable than the corporeal. The powers of 
the mind expand, the force of genius is felt, and very differ- 
ent objects folicit attention : Indead of peurile amufements, 
ambition, a warm and unaffected' friendfhip, a generofity and 
unfufpicious demeanour, both in words and actions, are the 
almoft univerfal characterises of this period of human life. 
I mention it with pleafure, that, as far as my obfervation ex- 
tends, in youth, unlefs they are corrupted by example, by 
neglect, or by other caufes* all men are honed, friendly, gen- 
erous, and humane. If this remark be true, Nature is fully 
exculpated. But, when a young man enters into the bufinefs 
of life, his candour and ingenuoufnefs foon meet with a 
fhock. This is the painful reverfe. Indead of liberality 
and integrity of conduct, he has to encounter with felfifh- 
nefs, chicane, and too often with direct villany. This un- 
happy difcovery turns his thoughts into a different current, 
contracts the noble opennefs of his heart, renders him fufpi- 
cious and guarded, and, if he fhali chance to retain his in- 
tegrity, he is obliged to aHume, at lead, the appearance of 
jealoufy and deceit. I by no means intend this to be the 
univerfal character of mankind ; I only lament that it is too 
general. 

In every race of mankind of which we have any know- 
ledge, the females arrive fooner at puberty than the males. 
But the age of puberty differs in different countries. This 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 27 1 

-difference feems to originate from two caufes, the temperat- 
ure of the climate, and the quality of the food. Children of 
citizens, and of opulent parents, who are fed with rich and 
nourifhing victuals, arrive fooner at this ftate. Children, 
on the contrary, brought up in the country, or whofe parents 
are poor, require two or three years longer ; becaufe their 
food is not only coarfe, but too fparingly given. In the 
fbuthern regions of Europe, and in large cities, the females 
arrive at puberty about the age of twelve, and the males 
about fourteen. But, in northern climates, and in the coun- 
try, girls hardly come to maturity till they are fourteen, and 
boys not before fixteen. In the warmeft regions of Afia, 
Africa, and America, the age of puberty in females com- 
mences at ten, and fometimes at nine. 

After puberty, the Count de Buffon remarks, * marriage 
f is the natural flate of man. A man ought to have but one 

* wife, and a woman but one hufband. This is the law of 

* Nature ; for the number of females is nearly equal to that 

* of the males. Such laws as have been enacted in oppofi- 

* tion to this natural principle, have originated folely from 
< tyranny and ignorance. Reafon, humanity, and juftice,, 

* revolt againft thofe odious feraglios, in which the liberty 
« and the affections of many women are facrificed to the 
f brutal paffion of a fingle man. Does this unnatural pre- 
€ eminence render thofe tyrants of the human race more 

* happy ? No ! Surrounded with eunuchs, and with women 
« who are ufelefs to themfelves and to other men, they are 
« tormented with the conftant appearance of that accumulat- 

* ed load of mifery they have created/ 

All animals, as well as thofe of the human fpecies, under- 
go, at the age of puberty, fimilar changes in the fprm of 
their bodies, and in the difpofitions of their minds. From 
mild, placid, and gentle, they become bold, reftlefs, and un- 
governable. Their bodies are then, in ftrength and fyrame- 



272 THE PHILOSOPHY 

try, perfectly accommodated to the new fentiments which 
Nature, for wife purpofes, excites in their minds. In the 
deer kind, the horns of the males appear not till they are 
fit for multiplying the fpecies. At this period, the creft, 
the wattles, and the plumage of the male gallinaceous birds 
acquire additional beauty, and their courage and ftrength 
are greatly augmented. The pigeon, inftead of being queru- 
lous, timid, and voracious, whenever the age of puberty ar- 
rives, feels emotions of a very different kind. Confcious of 
the new vigour he has acquired, he affumes a bold and im- 
portant air. He ftruts about with a majeftic pride, and im- 
mediately addrefTes, with all the gaity of a lover, fome favr 
orite female, whom he folicits with the moft afliduous gal- 
lantry and attention. After the coy female gives her affent, 
their after conduct exhibits fuch a mutual and ardent affec- 
tion, and fuch a conftant fidelity, as afford no inconfiderable 
pattern to the human fpecies. 

With regard to fifhes, we are totally ignorant of the pe- 
riods when the different tribes of them acquire the power of 
multiplying. From the element they inhabit, from the ra- 
pidity of their motions, and from their defultory and wander- 
ing mode of living, we are equally ignorant of many other 
important parts of their oeconomy and manners. This con- 
tinues to be an ample field for future inveftigation, and high- 
ly worthy of the attention of naturalifts. 

The oeconomy and manners of infects are more open to 
infpection. Thofe of the winged tribes undergo many chang- 
es^ both in figure and ftru£Vure, before they arrive at the age 
of puberty. They firft efcape from the eggs in the form of 
minute caterpillars. In this ftate they are exceedingly vora- 
cious, and grow with rapidity to their full fize ; but they 
are deftitute both of the power and of the organs neceffary 
for the multiplication of the fpecies. They are next form- 
ed into chryfalids : In this ftate, their bodies are covere4 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 273 

with a kind of cruft or fhell, from which the animals have 
again to efcape, as from a fecond egg. In this imprifoned 
condition, they remain during a longer or fhorter period, 
according to the fpecies, or to the feafon of the year in 
which they are transformed. After their transformation in- 
to flies, they burft this cruft or fhell, and appear in the form 
of flies, furnifhed with wings, legs, feelers, &c. of all which 
they were deftitute in their former ftate. When transform- 
ed into flies, caterpillars have arrived at the age of puberty. 
They are now perfect animals, and endowed with the faculty 
of tranfmitting a numerous progeny to pofterity. 



&1k THE PHILOSOPHY 

CHAPTER XI. 

Of Love. 

J. HE great intention of Nature, in endowing al- 
moft every animal with a fexual attachment, is the multipli- 
cation and continuation of the refpedtive fpecies. But, with 
regard to man, and, in an inferior degree, to all pairing ani- 
mals, love is the fource of many other focial and important 
advantages. Love, or a ftrong affection for a particular wo- 
man, is to young men, perhaps, one of the greateft incen- 
tives to virtue and propriety of conduct:. In northern coun- 
tries, it feldom rifes to that degree of frenzy, which, in warm- 
er climates, not only engroffes the whole attention, but often 
totally unhinges the powers of the mind. In northern re- 
gions, however, it occupies more gently the imagination, 
gives a chearfulnefs and alacrity to the bufinefs or ftudies of 
life, and, if reciprocal, diffufes over the mind and body a pla- 
cid happinefs, and a tranquility of difpofition, which greatly 
contribute to the health and vigour of both. A young man 
in love, thinks that the eyes of his favourite continually be- 
hold him. Through this amiable medium he views all his 
actions, and even his thoughts. His affection and venera- 
tion are fo great, that he is in fome meafure, deterred from 
regarding any other woman, and, what is of more import- 
ance, from indulging any loofe or irregular appetite. The 
difpofitions and affections of the female are the fame with 
thofe of the male. Her attention is completely engroffed ; 
and fhe never thinks or dreams of any man, but of him who 
is- the object of her affection. A young man and a young 
woman in love exhibit the mofl innocent and the moft amia- 
ble picture of human nature. Actuated by no interefted 



OF NATURAL HISTOItY. 27$ 

motives, and regardlefs of future contingencies, they obey 
the fupreme command of Nature. How much is it to be 
lamented, that, from the cruel, but perhaps unavoidable infti- 
tutions and cuftoms of civil focieties, it is fo often not only 
prudent, but neceflary, to check, and even to overcome, this 
powerful law of Nature ? 

Many are the advantages that mankind derive from fo- 
ciety and regular governments, and we fhould chearfully 
fubmit to thofe hardships and inconveniences to which they 
give rife. But every man, however fubmiffive to the laws 
of his country, muft regret that neceflity which makes them 
oppofe any of the laws of Nature, and efpecially the almoft 
irrefiftible law of love. 

In the prefent ftate of fociety, it mud be acknowledged, 
early marriages, among people in the ordinary and dependent 
$anks of life, are extremely hazardous. When both parties 
are induftrious and oeconomical, fuch marriages are not only 
the moft natural, but are productive of the greateft happi- 
nefs and cordiality. But the reverfe is dreadful !■ Children, 
ftraitened circumftances, refentment of parents, whether real 
or affected, too often produce all the complicated miferies 
to which mankind, in their loweft ftate of degradation, can 
be fubjected. Among this order of men, therefore, it is of 
the higheft importance that the law of Nature fhould yields 
for fome time at leaft, to the inftitutions of fociety, and to 
thofe prudential motives which parents learn from expe* 
rience to be ingredients effential to the comfort and happi- 
nefs of life. 

Men of fortune and of opulence have it in their power 
to obey the laws of Nature and of love ; and fome exam=» 
pies, though few in number, occafionally happen of rich meri 
acting a difinterefted part in their matrimonial engagements* 
Inftead of following the dictates of Nature, many men of 
fortune and independence* disregarding the high privilege 



576 THE PHILOSOPHY 

they enjoy, facrifice their tafte, their paffion, and often their 
happinefs during life, at the fhrine of Gold. To accomplish 
this fordid end, they often embrace deformity, difeafe, ignor- 
ance, peevifhnefs, and every thing that is difgufting to hu- 
man nature. Let fuch individuals fuffer their punifhment. 
But what are the confequences to the public ? Men of rank* 
in all nations and governments, not only regulate, in a great 
meafure, the manners of their inferiors, but are the natural 
guardians of the ftate. For thefe important purpofes, their 
minds mould be noble, generous, and bold j and their bodies 
fhould be ftrong, mafculine, fit to encounter the fatigues of 
war, and to repel every hoftile afTault that may be made up- 
on their country. But, when men of this defcription, what- 
ever be their motives, intermarry with weak, deformed, puny, 
or difeafed females, their progeny muft of neceffity degen- 
erate. The ftrength, beauty, and fymmetry of their ances- 
tors are, perhaps, for ever loft. What is ftill more to be re- 
gretted, debility of body is almoft univerfally accompanied 
with weaknefs of mind. Thus, by the avarice, ambition, or 
inattention, of one individual, a noble and generous race is 
completely deftroyed. By reverfing this conduct, it is true, 
the breed may again be mended ; but, to repair a fingle 
breach, many generations, endowed with prudence and cir- 
cumspection, will be requifite. A fucceffive degeneration, 
however, is an infallible confequence of imprudent or inter- 
efted marriages of this kind. One puny race may for fome 
time be Succeeded by another, till at laft their conftitutions 
become fo feeble that the animals lofe the faculty of multi- 
plying their fpecies. This gradual degeneration is one 
great caufe of the total extinction of confpicuous and noble 
families. That it mould be fo, is a wile and beneficent infti- 
tution of Nature ; for, if fuch debilitated races were conti- 
nued, a univerfal degeneration would foon take place, and 
mankind would be unable to perform the duties, or to under- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 277 

jgo the labours of life. Nature firft chaftifes, and at laft ex- 
tirpates, all thofe who act contrary to her eftabliflied laws. 

Beflde the pleafures refulting from fociety, and from mu- 
tual attachment in man, and in pairing animals* the natural 
love of offspring is a fource of the moil: engaging endear- 
ments. The innocence and helplefs condition of infants call 
forth our pity and protection. When a little farther ad- 
vanced, their beauty, their fmiles, and their fprightlinefs, ex- 
cite the moft agreeable emotions. In their progrefs from 
infancy to manhood, we obferve with pleafure the unfolding 
of their mental powers. They imitate our actions long be- 
fore they can exprefs their defires, or their wants, by lan- 
guage. Their attempts in the acquifitiou of language are 
extremely curious and amufing. Their firft fyfrem of gram- 
mar confifts entirely of fubftantive nouns. It is long before 
they learn the ufe of adjectives or of copulatives, and ftill 
longer before they employ the verb. Their fpeeches are 
fliort, aukward, and blundering ; but they zre animated, 
and uttered with aftonifhing force and vivacity of expreftion 
in their eyes, and in the geftures of their bodies. At this 
period of life, children are folely actuated by Nature and 
imitation. After they acquire words fufficient for convey- 
ing the few ideas they poiTefs, they begin to reafon, or rath- 
er to employ the language of reafoning ; for, at this period 
of life, children, when they mean to give a reafon why they 
fhould have any indulgence or gratification, aimed univer- 
fally argue againfl themfelves, and employ a reafon why 
their defires fhould not be granted. This ridiculous mode 
of reafoning excites laughter, and affords pleafure and amufe- 
ment to the parents. It like wife {hows, that our find at- 
tempt toward reafoning is principally, if not folely, the effect 
of imitation ; for the reafoning power, at this period, is not 
fully unfolded, becaufe many human inftincts, or mental 
qualities, have not yet been called forth into action. But 

L i 



278 THE PHILOSOPHY 

here I muft flop. To do juftice to this interefting fubject 
would require volumes. 

The love of offspring, which, though not univerfal, is per- 
haps the ftrongeft and moft active principle in human na- 
ture. It overcomes the fenfe of pain, and fometimes even 
the principle of felf-prefervation. A remarkable and a me- 
lancholy example of the ftrength of parental affection was 
lately exhibited, and, for the honour of our fpecies, deferves 
to be recorded. In the beginning of January 1786, the 
Halfewell Eaft Indiaman, Captain Richard Peirce, was un- 
fortunately wrecked on the coaft of Dorfetfhire. Befide fe- 
veral other ladies, Captain Peirce had two of his own daugh- 
ters on board. "When the fliip was in the extremity of dan- 
ger, fome of the company, by fwimming, and other feats of 
activity, got upon a rock. In this dreadful iituation, Cap- 
tain Peirce afked Mr. Rogers, his third mate, if any plan 
could be devifed for faving the ladies ? Mr. Rogers repli- 
ed, ' It is impoflible ! but you may fave yourfelf.' Upon 
which the Captain, addreffing himfeif to his daughters, and 
enfolding them in his arms, faid, < Then, my dear children, 
' we Avail not part ; we (hall perifh together !' Mr. Rogers 
quitted the fhip and reached the rock : An univerfal fhriek 
of defpair was heard, in which the voices of female diftrefs 
and horror were lamentably diftinguifhable. In a few mo- 
ments all was hufhed ; the fhip, with every perfon on board, 
had then gone to the bottom. Parents chearfully fubmit to 
the hardeft labour, and expofe thernfelves to the greatefk 
dangers in order to procure nourifhment to their young, or 
to protect them from injury. 

A bitch, during the operation of direction, licked her 
young, whofe prefenee feemed to make her forget the moft: 
excruciating tortures j and, when they were removed^ fhe 
uttered the moft dolorous cries. Certain fpecies of fpiders 
inclofe their eggs in a fiiken bag fpun and wove by them- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 279 

felves. This bag tliey fix to their back, and carry it along 
with them wherever they go. They are extremely nimble 
in their motions. But, when the bag is forced from a fpider 
of this kind, her natural agility forfakes her, and (lie falls 
into a languid ftate. When the bag is again prefented to her, 
fhe inftantly feizes it, and carries it off with rapidity. The 
young fpiders no fooner efcape from the eggs than they dex- 
teroufly arrange themfelves on the back of the mother, who 
continues for fome time to carry them about with her, and to 
fupply all their wants. Another fpecies of fpider attaches 
her bag of eggs to her belly. This fpider is likewife very 
agile, and fo ferocious and determiued in the protection of 
her eggs, that fhe has been known to fuffer death rather than 
relinquish them. The deer fpontaneoufly prefents herfeif 
to be chafed by the dogs, to prevent them from attacking 
her fawn. When the fox perceives that her young have 
been difturbed in her abfence, (lie carries them off, one after 
another, and conceals them in a new retreat. Wafps feed 
their young, when in the worm or caterpillar ftate, in the fame 
manner as pigeous and other birds that difgorge. The pigeon, 
after fwallowing grain, retains it for fome time in her ftom- 
ach, till it is foftened and macerated : She then difgorges, 
and throws it into the mouths of her young. * In the fame 

* manner,' fays Reaumur, « I have obferved a female wafp 

* fwallow a large portion of an infect : In a fhort time after- 
c wards, fhe traverfed the different cells of her neft, difgorg- 
1 ed the contents of her ftomach, and diftributed food in this 
1 half digefted form to her young worms*. 5 

Ail animals, man perhaps not excepted, acquire a double 
portion of force and courage after they bring forth. A cow, 
at leaft in a domeftic -ftate, is a placid and phlegmatic ani- 
mal : But, whenever fhe produces a calf, a wonderful 
change is exhibited : She inftantly becomes vigilant, active, 
* Reaumur, torn, u, page 230. 121110, edit. 



280 THE PHILOSOPHY 

and even ferocious, in the defence of her young. A Hoi 
deprived of her cubs prefents the moft dreadful picture of 
anxiety, rage, and rapacity. Defcending lower in the fcale 
of animation, the fame change is to be remarked. A do- 
meflic hen is a timid, indocile, and obftinately ftupid crea- 
ture. Though chaced, harralTed, and even put in danger 
of her life, fifty times in a day, fhe never learns to avoid a 
garden, or any particular place which fhe is accuftomed to 
frequent, or to which fhe is led by her appetite for food. 
But, the moment her chickens are hatched, inftead of her 
ufual timidity, fhe becomes as bold as a lion. When fhe 
thinks her young are in danger, fhe briftles up her feathers, 
affumes a fiercenefs in her eye, makes an alarming noife, and 
attacks, in the moft furious manner, and without diftinction, 
every animal that comes near her. By the fuddennefs of 
her onfets, fhe often alarms men, and actually intimidates 
and beats off dogs and other animals that could devour her 
in an inftant. 

Though feveral of the infect tribes difcovcr a ftrong attach- 
ment to their young, yet all thofe which undergo transforma- 
tions, and do not form focieties, muft be completely ignor- 
ant of the exiftence of their progeny ; becaufe, in general, 
the parents die before the young are hatched. Nature, how- 
ever, has endowed thofe fpecies with an inftinct which produ- 
ces all the effects of parental affection : They uniformly depo- 
fit their eggs in fubftances which afford to the young, immedi- 
ately after their efcape from the egg, a nourifhment adapted 
to their refpeclive conftitutions, and a comfortable and fafe 
protection from injury. Thus nature, ever attentive to the 
continuation and happinefs of her productions, however 
feemingly infignificant in the fcale of being, often employs 
very different means to accomplifh the fame beneficent pur- 
pofes. 

Nature has unqueftionably attached pleafure to all the ne- 
cefTary functions of animals. But this pleafure cannot b? 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 28 i 

considered as the original caufe of any particular action ; for 
the experiment muft be made before the animal can difcover 
whether the refult is to be agreeable or difagreeable. The 
truth is, that Nature has beftowed on the minds of all ani- 
mated creatures a number of laws or inftincts perfectly ac- 
commodated to the fpecies, and which irrefiftibly compel 
them to perform certain actions. The effects of thefe laws 
we perceive : But the caufes, or the modes by which they 
operate on animal minds, are infcrutable. "We may and 
muft admire, but we can never penetrate the myfteries of 
Nature. 

Bonnet, and fome other naturalifts, imagine they are ex- 
hibiting the caufes of that ftrong and mutual attachment be- 
tween parents and their offspring, when they tell us, that, in 
man, and quadrupeds, and birds, the mother is fond of her 
young, becaufe their natural actions give rife to agreeable 
fenfations ; that, from the ftructure of the mammae, a gen- 
tle, but pleafant fenfation, is excited by the action of fuck- 
ing •, that the mother is often incommoded by too great a 
quantity of milk, and that fucking relieves her j that the 
young love their mother, becaufe fhe feeds, protects, and com- 
municates to them a cherifhing warmth ; that, among the. 
feathered tribes, and particularly thofe which fit upon their 
young, by the gentle motions of the little ones, an agreeable 
fenfation is excited in the belly of the mother, which is then 
frequently deprived of feathers. All thefe fources of recip- 
rocal pleafure may be true : But ftill they are only effects, and 
not original caufes, of filial and parental affection *, for that 
mutual attachment exifts the moment after the young ani- 
mals come into the world, and, of courfe, previous to all ex- 
perience of titiliation, of heat, of habit, or of any other cir- 
cumftances that may, perhaps, contribute to ftrengthen or. 
prolong the exertion of the primary caufe, which muft re~ 
main forever concealed from human penetration. 



2S2 THE PHILOSOPHY 

In moft animals, except the human fpedes, parental and 
filial affection ceafe whenever the young are able to provide 
for themfelves. The pleafures derived from fucking, and 
from other circumftances formerly mentioned, might for 
fome time remain j but the young grow large, unwieldy, 
petulent, and enter into competitions for food, which not 
only contribute to alienate the affection of the parents, but 
even to excite refentment and averfion. Thefe, however, 
are only fecondary caufes. The purpofes of Nature are ful- 
filled. The ardour of affection, which was indifpenfably 
neceffary to the protection and rearing of the young, being 
now no longer ufeful, is fo totally extinguifhed, that neither 
the parents nor the offspring are capable of recognizing one 
another. This temporary and amiable inftinct is obliterated, 
and never revives till the fervours of love are again felt, and 
a new progeny appear. 

Marriage or pairing, though by no means an univerfal in- 
ftitution of Natnre, is not unfrequently exhibited in the ani- 
mal creation. With regard to man, both male and female 
are inftinctively impelled to make a felection. The force of 
this natural impulfe is ftrongly felt by every young and un- 
corrupted individual. When not reftrained by neceffity, or 
other powerful motives, men and women would intermarry 
long before it would be prudent in civilized or artificial 
ftates of fociety. This univerfal, and almoft irrefiflible 
impulfe of felection, is to me the ftrongeft argument in fa- 
vour of monogamy, or the union of pairs, among the human 
fpecies. 

The fame impulfe, or law of Nature, takes place among 
many other animals, as the partridge tribes, the fwallow, the 
linnet, and, in general, all the fmall birds. The afliduity, at- 
tention, mutual affection, laborious vigilance, and fteadfaft 
fidelity of pairing animals, are truly admirable, and to inge- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 233 

iiuous minds, afford the moft exemplary admonitions to vir- 
tue and conjugal attachment. 

Befide this forcible impulfe of felection implanted by Na- 
ture in man, and in every other pairing animal, fome other 
facts deferve to be noticed. In all pairing animals, including, 
of courfe, the human race, the males and females produced 
are nearly equal. This is a plain indication that Nature 
deftined thefe animals to pair, or to maray. Injuftice, jeal- 
oufy, animoiity, and every animal calamity, would enfue, if 
this order of Nature were encroached upon in creatures who 
are endowed with the inftinct of fexual felection. 

It is not incurious to remark, that human inftitutions often 
contradict the laws of Nature. The dunghill cock and hen, 
in a natural ftate, pair. In a domeftic ftate, however, the 
cock is a jealous tyrant, and the hen a proftitute. But, even 
in this unnatural fociety, a felection is fometimes to be ob- 
ferved. The fame phenomenon is exhibited among man- 
kind, when placed in certain fkuations. Like domeftic 
poultry, the Turks, and fome Afiatic and African nations, 
influenced by an accurfed government, and by an execrable 
religion, rebel againft the law of love, and of reciprocal at- 
tachment. In thefe countries, a rich man not only engroff- 
es, but imprifons and tortures, as many beautiful women as 
his fortune enables him to fupport. Destitute of all thofe 
endearments which arife from mental communication, from 
parental tendernefs and affection, from mutual confidence 
and folace, he is, while young, perpetually tormented with 
jealous apprehenlions. As he advances in life, his jealoufy 
and his terror augment. Though his females are fcrupu- 
loufly guarded from every intrufion, by fervile and mutilat- 
ed wretches, his fears increafe with his years and debility, 
till a premature and comfortlefs old age puts a period to his 
infjgnificant and liftlefs exiftence. 

In general, it is to be remarked, that all thofe fpecies of ani- 
mals, whofe offspring require, for fome time, the induftry and 



£84 THE PHILOSOPHY 

fupport of both parents, are endowed with the inftinct of fe- 
lection, or of pairing. With regard to the feathered tribes, 
pairing is almofl univerfal. A diftinction, however, as to 
the duration and circumftances of their pairing is to be ob- 
ferved. The young of all the fmall birds, as well as of moil 
of the larger kinds, continue for fome weeks in a weak and 
helplefs condition. The mother is not, like quadrupeds, 
provided with organs fitted to fecrete milk •, of courfe, (he is 
unable to nourifh them out of her own body. She is therefore 
obliged to go abroad in que ft of food for them. But the proge- 
ny are fo numerous, that all her induftry, if not affifted by 
the father, would be ineffectual for their fupport and protec- 
tion. In all birds whofe young are in this condition, the 
males and females not only pair, but each of them is endow- 
ed with the ftrongeft parental affection. Both are equally 
anxious and induftrious in procuring food for their mutual 
offspring. This parental care and attachment uniformly con- 
tinues till the young are fledged, and have acquired fufficient 
ftrength to provide for themfelves. Eagles, and fome other 
birds of prey, continue faithfully in pairs for years, and perhaps 
during life. Thefe facts afford a ftrong argument in favour 
of marriage among mankind. No animal remains fo long 
in the infant and helplefs ftate as the children of men ; and 
no mother could, with her own induftry, poffibly fuckle and 
procure nourifhment for a numerous family. Here, as in 
the feathered tribes, the afliftance of the father becomes 
indifpenfible. On this fubject, a curious inftinct merits 
attention. The male of rnoft birds not only felects a fe- 
male, but, with great affiduity, brings food to her when 
fitting on her eggs, and often relieves her, by fitting on them 
himfelf. 

There are other fpecies of pairing birds, whofe young, as 
foon as they are hatched, are capable of eating their food 
when prefented to them, and of courfe, require lefs labour 



tiF NATURAL HISTORY. 28$ 

Front the parents. In thefe fpecies, accordingly, the male 
pays no attention to the progeny, becaufe it is unneceffary j 
but the mother carefully leads them about to places where 
proper food is to be had, protects them from injuries, and 
communicates heat to them by covering them with her 
wings. 

Quadrupeds, efpecially thofe which feed upon grafs, do 
hot pair •, becaufe, while the female gives fuck to her young, 
fhe herfelf is feeding. Befide, the young of this tribe, very 
foon after birth, can eat grafs and other vegetables. The 
Count de Buffon remarks, that the roe-deer, though they feed 
Upon grafs, are to be excepted from this rule ; for they pair 
and have annually but one litter. Lions, tigers, wolves, and 
other rapacious quadrupeds, do not pair. The whole labour 
of procuring food is devolved upon the female, which often 
fhortens her own life, as well as that of her offspring. In 
relation to man, this is a fortunate circumftance, for, if beads 
of prey paired, a dangerous multiplication of thofe deftruc- 
tive fpecies would be the confequence. But pairing is effen- 
tially neceiTary to birds of prey ; becaufe, during the procefs 
of incubation, the female would not have time fufiicient for 
procuring food ; which, in thefe animals, requires both pa* 
tience and addrefs. Some quadrupeds, particularly thofe 
which lay up proviiions for the winter, as the beaver, pair* 
As foon as the young beavers are produced, the males aban- 
don the flock of provifions to the females, and go in queft of 
food for themfelves. But they by no means relinquifh their 
mates ; but frequently return and vifit them while they are 
fuckling their young. 

If man, and fome of the pairing animals be excepted, the 
feafons of love are limited to particular times of the year. 
Thefe feafons, though various, are admirably adapted to the 
nature and oeconomy of the different fpecies. In all ani- 
mals of this kind, the feafons of love, and the times of fe- 

M M 



280 THE PHILOSOPHY 

male geftation, are fo contrived by Nature, that the offspring 
when brought forth, are amply fupplied with the particular 
fpecies of food upon which they principally live. Though 
the times of geftation vary confiderably among fuch quadru- 
peds as feed upon grafs, the refpective females uniformly 
bring forth early in fummer, when the grafs is tender and 
luxuriant. The mare comes in feafon in fummer, carries 
eleven months, and is delivered in the beginning of Mayr 
Sheep and goats come in feafon in the end of October or be- 
ginning of November. They carry five months, and pro- 
duce when the grafs begins to fpring. It is worthy of ob- 
fervation, that, though the times of geftation in the fame 
fpecies, and in all latitudes, never alter, yet the feafons of 
love, and times of delivery, vary with the climate. In Italy, 
fheep come in feafon in the months of June or July. The 
females, as ufual, carry five months, and bring forth in No- 
vember or December, the very period when grafs,. in that 
climate, is in its beft flate for pafture •, for, in April, it is 
burnt up, and fheep have nothing to browfe upon but fhrubs. 
The rutting feafon of the flag, is in the end of September 
and beginning of October, and the female brings forth in 
May or the beginning of June. Thefe animals inhabit the 
higheft mountains of Scotland, where the grafs, of courfe, 
does not begin to fpring fo early as in the lower parts of 
that country. Beavers come in feafon about the end of au- 
tumn,- and bring forth in January, when their ftore-houfes 
are full of provifions. The young, of pairing, birds are pro- 
duced in the fpring, when the weather begins to be comfort- 
ably warm, and their natural food abounds. In a word, the 
bringing forth, or hatching, of all animals, not excluding 
the infect tribes, uniformly takes place at thofe feafons of the 
year when the nature of the weather, and the food peculiar 
to the fpecies, are beft adapted to the constitution of their 
©ffspring. Caterpillars of every kind are never hatched till 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 287 

the various plants on which they feed though they grow in 
different months, have put forth their leaves. 

We fhall conclude this fubjec*t, by giving a Table of the 
Relative Fecundity, &c. of Animals, which, in a fhort com- 
pafs, folves a number of queftions with regard to the natural 
hiftory of quadrupeds. It is taken from the eighth volume 
of the Tranflation of Buffon, to whofe authority mod read* 
ws will be inclined to give great weight. 



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tte NATURAL HISTORY. 391 

CHAPTER XII. 

Of the Transformation of Animals, 

JL HE transformation of caterpillars, and of dif- 
ferent kinds of worms, into winged infects, has long excited 
the attention, as well as the admiration of mankind. But 
the truth is, that every animal, without exception, undergoes 
changes in ftructure, mode of existence, and external appear- 
ances. Mankind, from their embryo ftate, to their final 
dhTolution, affume many different forms. Some weeks after 
conception, the rudiments of a human being are to be per- 
ceived. As pregnancy advances, the approaches to the per- 
fect figure become gradually more diftinguifhable, till the 
period of birth. While in the foetus ftate, the head is dif- 
proportionally large, when compared with the other parts 
of the body ; nourifhment is conveyed to it by very differ- 
ent channels ; and refpiration is not neceifary, becaufe the 
circulation of the blood is not carried on in the fame manner 
as after birth. Even after birth, the form, fymmetry, and 
organs of the animal are by no means complete. The head 
continues for fome time to be difproportionally large ; the 
hands and feet are not properly fhaped ; the legs are crooks 
ed j the hair on the head is ihort and fcanty j no teeth as 
yet appear \ and there is not a veftige of a beard. In a few 
months, however, the fymmetry of all the parts is evidently* 
improved, and the teeth begin to fhoot. The growth of the 
whole body, as well as the ftrength and beauty of its form- 
gradually advance to perfection till the fixth or feventh year, 
when another change takes place. At this period, the firft 
fet of teeth are fhed, and are replaced by new ones. From 
boyhood to puberty, the fize of the body, and of its differ- 
ent members, increafe. When the age of puberty arrive*, 



i&& THE PHlLdSOPHT 

feveral important changes are produced in the fyftem of 
both males and females. The beard now makes its appear- 
ance ; the dimenfions of the body, in mod individuals, are 
fuddenly augmented ; and both fexes become capable of 
multiplying the fpecies. From this period, to the age of 
twenty-five or thirty, the mufcles fwell, their interfaces are 
filled with fat, the parts bear a proper proportion to each 
other, and man may now be confidered as a perfect animal. 
In this ftate of bodily perfection and vigour, he generally 
remains till he reaches his fiftieth year. Then a new but a 1 
gradual change begins to appear. From the fiftieth year to 
the age of feventy or eighty, the powers of the body decline 
in their ftrength and activity. The mufcles lofe their fpring 
and their force. The vigour of manhood is no longer felt ; 
and the withered decrepitude of old age is fucceeded by 
death, its unavoidable confequence. 

The mind of man undergoes changes as well as his body. 
The tafte, the appetites, and the difpofitions, are in perpetual 
fluctuation. How different is the tafte of a child from that 
of a man ? Fond of gewgaws and of trifling amufements, chil- 
dren frolic away their time without much thought or reflec- 
tion. "When advancing toward puberty, their difpofitions 
and defires fuffer a gradual mutation. New inftincts are un- 
folded, and a fenfe of propriety begins to be perceived. 
They defpife their former occupations and amufements ; and 
different fpecies of objects folicit and obtain their attention. 
Their powers of reflection are now considerably augmented ; 
and both fexes acquire a modefty and a fhynefs with 
regard to each other. This auk ward, but natural bafhful- 
nefs, by the intercourfe of fociety, as well as by the impulfes 
of Nature, vanifhes foon after puberty, when the ftate of 
manhood and of gallantry commences. From this period, 
to the age of twenty-five or thirty, men's minds affume a 
bold, enterprifing, and active tone. They engage in th« 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 293 

bufinefs of life, look forward to futurity, and have a defire of 
marrying and of eftablifhing families. All the focial appe- 
tites are in vigour ; folid and manly friendfhips are formed ; 
and man goes on for fome time to enjoy every kind of happi- 
nefs which his nature is capable of affording. I wifh the 
next change had no exiftence. At fifty or fixty, the mental 
powers, in general, like thofe of the body, begin to decline, 
till feeble and tremulous old age arrives, and death clofes the 
mutable fcene of human life. 

With regard to quadrupeds, both before and after birth, 
they undergo fimilar, and many of them greater, changes of 
form than thofe of the human fpecies. Their mental pow- 
ers, likewife, their difpofitions and manners, as well as the 
objects of their attention, vary according to the different 
ftages of their exiftence. Many of them come into the 
world blind, and continue for fome time before they receive 
the fenfe of feeing. How many changes are exhibited in 
the dog from birth till all his members are completely form- 
ed, and all his inftincts are unfolded and improved by expe- 
rience and education ? The deer -kind acquire not their 
magnificent and beautiful horns before the age of puberty ; 
and even thefe are annually caft off and renewed. Similar 
changes take place in quadrupeds of every denomination ; 
with examples of which every man's experience and recol- 
lection will readilv fupply him j and, therefore, it is unnecef- 
fary to be more particular. 

Neither are Birds, in their progrefs from birth to maturi- 
ty, exempted from changes. Like quadrupeds, many birds 
are blind for fome time after they are hatched. In this con- 
dition, how different are their form and appearances from 
thofe of the perfect animals ! At firft, they are covered with 
a kind of down infleadof feathers. Even after the feathers 
{hoot, they are often of a colour different from that which 
they acquire when full grown. The beautifully variegated 

N N 



$9'4r The philosophy 

colours of the peacock's tail appear not till he arrives at his 
third year # . Birds that have crefts, or wattles, live a con- 
fiderable time before they acquire thefe ornaments, or marks 
of diftindtion. All birds annually molt, or caft their fea- 
thers, in the fame manner as quadrupeds fhed their hair, the 
new pufhing out the old. 

Frogs, and many other amphibious animals, undergo great 
Changes in their form and ftrudhire. When it firft efcapes 
from the egg y a frog appears in the form of a tadpole, an 
animal with a large roundifh head, and a comprefTed or flat 
tail, but totally deftitute of feet and legs. In this ftate it re- 
mains a confiderable time, when the two fore-feet begin to 
fhoot, and have an exact refemblance to the buds of trees. 
As thsir growth advances, the toes and legs are diftinguifha- 
ble. The fame procefs goes on with the hind-legs, only 
they are fomewhat later in making their appearance. Dur- 
ing the growth of the legs, the blood being drawn into dif- 
ferent channels, the tail fuffers a gradual mortification, till at 
laft it totally vanifhes, and the tadpole is metamorphofed 
into a quadruped. Tadpoles never come out of the water ; 
but, after their transformation into frogs, they become am- 
phibious, and occafionally frequent both land and water. 

The crujlaceous tribes, as lobfters, crabs, &c. befide the dif- 
ferent appearances they aflume while growing to perfection, 
caft their fhells every year. When this change is about to 
happen, they retire into the crevices of rocks, or fhelter 
themfelves below detached ftones, with a view to conceal 
and defend their bodies from ihe rapacious attacks of other 
fifties. After the fhells are caft, the animals are exceeding- 
ly weak and defencelefs. Inftead of their natural defence 
of hard fhells and ftrong claws, they are covered only with a 
thin membrane or fkin. In this ftate they become an eafy 
prey to almoft every fifh that fwims. The fkin, however, 
* Linnaei Amoen. Acad, vol, 4, p. 368. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 2.95 

gradually thickens and grows harder, till it acquires the ufual 
degree of firmnefs. By this time the animals have refumed 
their former flrength and activity ; they come out from their 
retirements, and go about in queft of food. 

Serpents, and many other reptiles, caft their fkins an- 
nually. The beauty and luftre of their colours are then 
highly augmented. Before cafting, the old fkins have a 
tarnifhed and withered appearance. The old ikins, like 
the firft fet of teeth in children, are forced offby the growth 
of the new. 

We come now to give fome account of the transformations 
of infects^ which are both various and wonderful. All wing- 
ed infects, without exception, and many of thofe which are 
deftitute of wings, muft pafs through feveral changes before 
the animals arrive at the perfection of their natures. The 
appearance, the ftructure, and the organs of a caterpillar, of 
a chryfalis, and of a fly, are {o different, that, to a perfon un- 
acquainted with their transformations, an identical animal 
would be confidered as three diftinct fpecies. Without the 
aid of experience, who could believe that a butterfly, adorn- 
ed with four beautiful wings, furnifhed with a long fpiral 
probofcis or tongue, initead of a mouth, and with fix legs, 
fhould have proceeded from a difgufting, hairy caterpillar, 
provided with jaws and teeth, and fourteen feet ? Without 
experience, who could imagine that a long, white, fmooth, 
foft worm, hid under the earth, fhould be transformed into 
a black, cruftaceous beetle, having wings covered with horny 
elytra, or cafes ? 

Upon this branch of the fubjedt, we fhall,^r/?, give an ex- 
ample or two of the mod common transformations of In- 
fects ; and, fecondly, defcribe fome of the more uncommon 
kinds. 

Befide their final metamorphofis into flies, caterpillars un- 
dergo feveral intermediate changes. All caterpillars caft or 



296 THE PHILOSOPHY 

change their fkins oftener or more feldom, according to the 
fpecies. Malpighius informs us, that the filk-worm, pre- 
vious to its chryfalis ftate, cafts its fkin four times. The 
firft fkin is caft on the 10th, 1 1th, or 12th day, according to 
the nature of the feafon ; the fecond in five or fix days after j 
the third in five or fix days more ; and the fourth and laft 
in fix or feven days after the third. This changing of {kin 
is not only common to all caterpillars, but to every infect 
whatever. Not one of them arrives at perfection without 
catting its fkin at leaft once or twice. The fkin, after it is 
caft, preferves fo entirely the figure of the caterpillar in its 
head, teeth, legs, colour, hair, &c. that it is often miftaken 
for the animal itfelf. A day or two before this change hap- 
pens, caterpillars, take no food : They lofe their former ac- 
tivity, attach themfelves to a particular place, and bend their 
bodies in various directions, till at laft they efcape from the 
old fkin, and leave it behind them. The inteftinal canal of 
caterpillars is compofed of two principal tubes, the one in- 
ferted into the other. The external tube is compact and 
flefhy ; but the internal one is thin and tranfparent. Some 
days before caterpillars change into the chryfalis ftate, they 
void, along with their excrement, the inner tube which 
lined their ftomach and inteftines. When about to pafs in- 
to the chryfalis ftate, which is a ftate of imbecility, caterpil- 
lars felect the moft proper places and modes of concealing 
themfelves from their enemies. Some, as the filk-worm, 
and many others, fpin filken webs or cods round their 
bodies, which completely difguife the animal form. Others 
leave the plants upon which they formerly fed and hide 
themfelves in the little cells which they make in the earth. 
The rat-tailed worm abandons the water upon the approach 
of its metamorphofis, retires under the earth, where it is 
changed into a chryfalis, and, after a certain time, burft$ 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. £©? 

from its feemingly inanimate condition, and appears in the 
form of a winged infect. Thus the fame animals pafs the. 
fir ft and long eft period of their exiftence in the water, anoth- 
er under the earth, and the third and laft in the air. Some 
caterpillars, when about to change into a chryfalis ftate, 
cover their bodies with a mixture of earth and filk, and con- 
ceal themfelves in the loofe foil. Others incruft themfelves 
with a filky or glutinous matter, which they pufli out from 
their mouths, without fpinning it into threads. Others re- 
tire into the holes of walls or of decayed trees. Others fuf- 
pend themfelves to the twigs of trees, or to other elevatecj 
bodies, with their heads undermoft. Some attach them- 
felves to walls, with their heads higher than their bodies, 
but in various inclinations ; and others choofe a horizontal 
pofition. Some fix themfelves by a gluten, and fpin a rope 
round their middle to prevent them from falling. Thofe 
which feed upon trees attach themfelves to the branches, in- 
ftead of the leaves, which are lefs durable, and fubject to 3 
greater variety of accidents. The colours of the caterpillars 
give no idea of thofe of the future flies. 

In general, the figure of chryfalids approaches to that of a 
cone, efpecially in their pofterior part. When under this 
form, the infect feems to have neither legs nor wings. It is 
incapable either of walking or of crawling. It takes no 
nourifhment, becaufe it has no organs fuited to that purpofe ; 
yet, in fome fpecies, life is continued for feveral months be- 
fore their laft metamorphofis takes place. In a word, it 
feems to be a lifelefs mafs. But, upon a more attentive ob~ 
fervation, it pofTefTes the power of bending upwards and 
downwards the pofterior part of its body. The fkin, or ex- 
terior covering, of thofe which do not fpin cods, feems to be 
of a cartilaginous nature. It is commonly fmooth and fhin- 
ing. In fome fpecies, however, the fkin of the chryfalis is 
more or lefs cQvered with hair, and other rugofities. Though 



2#S THE PHILOSOPHY 

chryfalids differ both in figure and colour, their appearances 
are by no means fo various as thofe of the caterpillars from 
which they are produced. The colour of fome chryfalids is 
that of pure gold, from which circumftance the whole have 
received their denomination. For the fame reafon they are 
called aureliae in Latin. Some are brown, others green ; and, 
indeed, they are to be found of almoft every colour and 
fhade. 

The life of winged infers confifts of three principal pe- 
riods, which prefent very different fcenes to the ftudent of 
Nature. In the firft period, the infect appears under the 
form of a worm or caterpillar. Its body is long, cylindrical, 
and confifts of a fucceffion of rings, which are generally 
membranous, and encafed within each other. By the aid of 
its rings, or of crotchets, or of feveral pairs of legs, it crawls 
about in queft of food ; and its movements are, in fome fpe- 
cies, remarkably quick. Its head is armed with teeth, or 
pincers, by which it eats the leaves of plants or other kinds of 
food. In this ftate, it is abfolutely deprived of fex, and, con- 
fequently, of the power of multiplication. Its blood moves 
from the tail toward the head. It refpires either by ftigma- 
ta or fmall apertures placed on each fide of its body, or by 
one or feveral tubes fituated on its pofterior part, which have 
the refemblance of fo many tails. In the fecond period, the 
infect appears under the form of a nymph, or that of a chry- 
falis. When an infecl, after throwing off* the fkin of the 
caterpillar, exhibits all its external parts, only covered with 
foft and tranfparent membranes, it is called a nymph. But, 
when to thefe membranes is added a common and cruftace- 
ous covering, it receives the name of a chryfalis. While in 
the ftate of a nymph, or that of a chryfalis, infects, in gener- 
al, are totally inactive, and feem not to poffefs any powers of 
life. Sunk into a kind of deep fleep, tkey are little affected 
?y r ith external ot^ects. They can make no ufe of their eye*, 



OF KATURAL HISTORY. 29$ 

their mout?h, or any of their members -, for they are all im* 
prifoned by coverings more or lefs ftrong. No cares occu- 
py their attention. Deprived of the faculty of motion, they 
remain fixed in thofe fituations which they have chofen for 
their temporary abode, or where chance has placed them, 
till their final metamorphofis into flies. Some of them, how- 
ever, are capable of changing place ; but their movements 
are flow and painful. Their blood circulates, but in a con- 
trary direction from what takes place in the caterpillar ftate •, 
for it proceeds from the head toward the tail. Refpiration 
continues to go on, but the organs are differently fituated. 
In the caterpillar, the principal organs of refpiration were 
placed at the pofterior part of the body ; but now thefe 
fame organs are to be found at the anterior part of the ani- 
mal. In the third period, the infect has acquired that per- 
fect organization which correfponds to the rank it is to hold 
in the fcale of animation. The bonds of the nymph, or of 
the chryfalis, are now burft afunder, and the infect commenc- 
es a new mode of exiftence. All its members, formerly foft y 
inactive, and folded up in an envelope, are expanded, 
ftrengthened, and expofed to obfervation. Under the form 
of a worm or caterpillar, it crawled ; under thofe of a 
nymph, or chryfalis, its power of motion was almoft annihi- 
lated ; under the laft form, it is furnifhed with fix fpringy 
legs, and two or four wings with which it is enabled to fly 
through the air. Inftead of teeth or pincers, with which it 
divided a grofs aliment, it has now a trunk by which it ex- 
tracts the refined juices of the moft delicate flowers. Inftead; 
of a few fmooth eyes which it pofTefTed in the worm or cat- 
erpillar ftate, the new infect is furnifhed with both fmooth 
and convex eyes, to the number of feveral thoufands. 

The internal parts of the infect have likewife undergone 
as many changes as the external. The texture, the propor- 
tions, and the uumber of the vifcera, are greatly altered. 



£66 THE PHILOSOPHY 

Some have acquired an additional degree of confidence \ 
others, on the contrary, are rendered finer and more deli- 
cate. Some receive a new form, and others are entirely an- 
nihilated. Laftly, fome organs in the perfect infect, which 
feemed formerly to have no exiftence, are unfolded, and be- 
come vifible. The moft important of this laft kind are the 
organs of generation. The caterpillar, the nymph, and the 
chryfalis, were of no fex. But, after transformation, both 
fexes are diflinguifhable, and the animals are capable of mul- 
tiplying their fpecies. 

We fhall now give fome examples of transformations 
which deviate from the common mode. 

Some infects hold a middle rank between thofe which 
preferve their original figure during life, and thofe that fuf- 
fer transformations. Their exiftence is divided into two 
periods only. They walk in the firft, and fly in the fecond. 
Thus their only metamorphofis confifts of the addition of 
wings, the growth and expanficn of which are performed 
without any confiderable alteration in the figure of their 
bodies. 

There is not a law eftablifhed among organized bodies 
which feems to be fo univerfal, as that all of them grow, or 
augment in fize, after birth, till they arrive at maturity. If 
a hen were to bring forth an egg as large as her own body, 
and if this egg, when hatched, were to produce a bird of 
equal dimenfions with either of the parents, it would be con- 
fidered as a miracle. But the fpider-fly> fo denominated 
from its figure, affords an example of a fimilar prodigy. 
This fly actually lays an egg, from which a new fly is hatch- 
ed that is as large and as perfect as its mother. This egg is 
roundifh, is at firft white, and afterwards afTumes a fhining 
black colour. Upon a more accurate examination, however, 
this production was found to be an egg only in appearance. 
When the envelope is removed, inftead of a gelatinous fub- 



OF NATURAL ^HISTORY. SOI 

fiance, the new infect, furnifhed with all its members, is 
discovered. But this difcovery does not render the fact the 
lefs wonderful. All winged infects undergo their different 
transformations after being expelled from the bodies of theii 
mothers* and receive great augmentations of fize before their 
metamorph^Ss into the nymph or chryfalis ftate i after which, 
their growth flops. But the fpider-fly aiTcrds an inflance 
of an infect transformed in the belly of hs mother, and 
which grows no more after it efcapes from its envelope. 
This fact is fully authenticated by Reaumur*, Bonnetf , and 
other naturalifls. 

The worm from which the tipula or crane-fly is produced 
is perfectly fmooth. Immediately before its firft transfor- 
mation it retires under ground. After this metamorphofis, 
the furface of the nymph is fnrnifhed with a number of 
prickles. By means of thefe prickles, the nymph, when 
about to be transformed into a fly, raifes itfelf in its hole till 
the cheft of the infect is above ground. The fly then burfts 
its prifon, mounts into the air, and leaves its former cover- 
ing behind in the earth. 

Many fpecies of flies depcfit their eggs in the leaves and 
different parts of plants. Soon after the egg is inferted into 
the leaf, a imall tubercle begins to appear,, which gradually 
increafes in magnitude till the animal is hatched, and has 
paffed through its different transformations. Thefe tuber- 
cles are known by the name of galls, and are very different 
in their form, texture, colour, and fize. Galls of every 
kind, however, derive their origin from the flings of infects, 
which generally belong to the clafs of flies. The female 
fly, by means of her fling, makes incifions in the leaves or 
branches of a tree, and in each incifion fhe lays an egg. 
This egg is at firft extremely minute *, but it foon acquires 

* Reaumur, vol. 12. page 412. edit. nrao. 

f Oeuvresdc Bonnet, vol. 4. page 28. edit, 8vo. 

O o 



302 THE PHILOSOPHY 

a confiderable bulk, and the gall has arrived at its full fizc' 
before the worm is hatched. This gall feems to be analo- 
gous to the membranes which inveft a foetus, and expand 
in all directions in proportion to its growth. That the eggs 
of oviparous animals grow while in the ovarium is univerfally 
known ; but it is Angular that the eggs of gall-flies Ihould 
grow after being feparated from the body of the mother. 
Thefe eggs muft undoubtedly be furnifhed with external vef- 
fels, or a kind of roots, by which they extract juices from 
the internal cavity of the gall. Malpighius afcribes the 
origin of galls to a corrofive liquor introduced by the fly into 
the wound. But Reaumur, to account for the growth of a 
gall, thinks it unnecefTary to have recourfe to any fuppofed 
poifonous fluids, and attributes it to the fuperabundant nutri- 
cious juices derived to that particular part by the continual 
action of the abforbent vefTels of the egg, joined to its heat, 
which may be compared to a little fire placed in the center 
of the tumour. 

Whether thefe caufes are fuffieient to explain the growth 
of galls, we fhali fubmit to the judgment of the reader. But, 
that the eggs depofited by the flies augment in fize ; that 
worms proceed from them ; that thefe worms are nourifhed, 
and live a certain time imprifoned in the galis ; that they 
are there transformed into nymphs or chryfaiids ; and, laftly, 
that they are metamorphofed into the winged infects, which, 
by gnawing an aperture through the gall, take their flight 
in the air ; are known and inconteftible facts, of the truth of 
which every man may eafily fatisfy himfelf. Examine the 
common oak-galls, or thofe of any other tree y if any of 
them happen to have no aperture, cut them gently open, 
and you are certain to find an egg, a worm, a, chryfalis or a 
fly : But in fuch as are perforated by a cylindrical hole, not 
a veftige of an animal is difcoverable. The galls which make 
an ingredient in the compofition of ink are thick, and their 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 803 

texture is very ftrong and compact : That the fmall animal$ 
they contain fhould be able to pierce through fuch a rigid 
fubftance is truly wonderful. 

In the general order of Nature among oviparous animals, 
each egg includes one embryo only. A lingular fpecies of 
eggs, however, discovered by the celebratad Mr. Folks, late 
Prefident of the Royal Society of London muft be excepted. 
He found great numbers of them in the mud of fmall 
rivulets. In fize they equalled the head of an ordinary pin. 
They were of a brown colour, and their furface was crufta- 
ceous, through which, by employing the microfcope, feveral 
living worms were diftinctly perceptible. By dexteroufly 
breaking the fhell, he diflodged them $ and he found with, 
furprife, that eight or nine worms were contained in, and 
proceeded from the fame egg. They were all well formed, 
and moved about with great agility. Each of them was in r 
clofed in an individual membranous covering, which was ex- 
tremely thin and tranfparent. It were to be wifhed that the 
transformations of thefe extraordinary animals had been, 
traced. 

Some caterpillars, when about to transform, make a belt 
pafs round their bodies. This belt is compofed of an afTem- 
blage of filken threads fpun by themfelves, the ends of which 
they pafte to the twigs of bufhes, or other places where they 
choofe to attach their bodies. They likewife fix their hind 
legs in a tuft of filk. After transformation, the chryfalids 
remain fixed in the fame manner as before their metamor- 
phofis. The belt is loofe, and allows the chryfalis to per- 
form its flow and feeble movements. 

The whole moth-kind, as well as the fik-worm, immedi- 
ately before their transformation into the chryfalis ftate, cov- 
er their bodies with a cod or clue of filk, though the nature 
of the filk, and their mode of fpinning, are very different. 
The cods of the filk- worm are compofed of pure filk. Their 



504 THE PHILOSOPHY 

figure is generally oval, which neceflarily refults from that 
of the animal's body upon which they are moulded. When 
fpinning, they twift their bodies into the form of an S. The 
cod is produced by numberlefs circumvolutions and zigzags 
of the fame thread. The filk is fpun by an inftrument fitua- 
ted near the mouth of the infecl. The filky matter, before 
it is manufactured by the fpinning inftrument, appears under 
the form of a gum almoft liquid, which is contained in two 
large refervoirs comtorted like the inteftines of larger ani- 
mals, and which terminate at the fpinning inftrument by two 
parallel and {lender conduits. Each conduit furnifhes mat- 
ter for one thread. The fpinning inftrument, as is evident 
when viewed by the microfcope, unites the two threads in- 
to one. Thus a thread of filk, which has the appearance of 
being fmgle, is in reality double, and fpun with great dexteri- 
ty. Some writers, who delight in the marvellous, afcribe 
forefight to the filk-worm in fpinning its cod. The filk- 
worm, it muft be acknowledged, ac~ts as if it forefaw the ap- 
proaching event. But the truth is, that, when the animal 
has acquired its full growth, its refervoirs of filk are com- 
pletely filled. It then feems to be ftrongly ftimulated to 
evacuate this glutinous matter. Its different movements and 
attitudes, while difcharging the filk, produce thofe oval bun- 
dles which clothe and ornament vaft numbers of the human 
fpecies. 

Another fpecies of caterpillar conftrucls its cod in the 
form of a boat with the keel uppermoft ; but it confifts not 
entirely of pure filk. The animal, with its teeth, detaches 
fmall triangular pieces of bark from a bufh or a tree. Thefe 
pieces of bark it paftes upon its body by means of a gluti- 
nous or filky fubflance, and they conflitute a principal part 
of its cod. 

Another fpecies works alfo in wood, though not with equal 
art as the former. Its cod is compofed entirely of fmall ir- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 805 

regular fragments of dried wood. Thefe fragments the ani- 
mal has the addrefs to unite together, and to form of them a 
kind of a box which covers and defends its whole body. It 
accomplishes this purpofe by moiftening, for fome moments, 
the pieces of wood in its mouth, and then attaches them to 
each other by a glutinous fubftance. Of this mixture the 
caterpillar forms a cod, the folidity of which is nearly equal 
to that of wood. 

The moft folitary of all infects are thofe who live in the 
internal parts of fruits. Many of them undergo their meta- 
morphofis in the fruit itfelf, which affords them both nourish- 
ment and a fafe retreat. They dig cavities in the fruitj 
which fome of them either line with iilk, or fpin cods. 
Others leave the fruit, and retire to be transformed in the; 
earth. 

The metamorphofis of infects has been regarded as a Hid- 
den operation, becaufe they often burft their fhell or filky 
covering quickly, and immediately appear furnifhed with 
wings. But, by more attentive obfervation, it has been dif- 
covered that the transformation of caterpillars is a gradual 
procefs from the moment the animals are hatched till they 
arrive at a ftate of perfection. Why, it may be afked, do 
caterpillars fo frequently caft their fkins ? The new ikin, 
and other organs, were lodged under the old ones, as in fo 
many tubes or cafes, and the animal retires from thefe cafes, 
becaufe they have become too ftrait. The reality of thefe 
encafements has been demonftrated by a fimple experiment. 
When about to molt or caft its Ikin, if the foremoft legs of a 
caterpillar are cut off, the animal comes out of the old fkin 
deprived of thefe legs. From this fact, Reaumur conjectur- 
ed, that the chryfalis might be thus encafed, and concealed 
under the laft fkin of the caterpillar. He difcovered that the 
chryfalis, or rather the butterfly itfelf, was inclofed in the 
body of the caterpillar. The probofcis, the antenae, the. 



506 THE PHILOSOPHY 

limbs, and the wings, of the fly are fo nicely folded up, that 
they occupy a fmall fpace only under the two firft rings of 
the caterpillar. In the firft fix limbs of the caterpillar are 
encafed the fix limbs of the butterfly. Even the eggs of the 
butterfly have been difcovered in the caterpillar long before 
its transformation. 

From thefe facts it appears, that the transformation of in- 
fects is only the throwing off external and temporary cover- 
ings, and not an alteration of the original form. Caterpil- 
lars may be confidered as analogous to the foetufes of men 
and of quadrupeds. They live and receive nourifhment in 
envelopes till they acquire fuch a degree of perfection as 
enables them to fupport the fituation to which they are ulti- 
mately deftined by Nature. 

One would not readily believe that the excrements of a 
butterfly fhould be capable of exciting confternation in the 
minds of the people. But this event has frequently happen- 
ed in different places and nations. Among many other 
prodigies which have terrified nations, flowers of blood have 
been enumerated by hiflorians. Thefe fhowers of blood 
were fuppofed to portend great and calamitous events, as 
wars, the deftruction of cities, and the overthrow of empires. 
About the beginning of July, in the year 1 608, one of thefe 
pretended fhowers of blood fell in the fuburbs of Aix, and 
for feveral miles round. This fuppofed fhower of blood, 
M. de Reaumur remarks, would probably have been trans- 
mitted to us as a great and a real prodigy, if Aix had not 
then been pofTefled of a philosopher, who, amidft other fpe- 
cies of knowledge, did not neglect the operations and oecon- 
omy of infects. This philofopher was M. de Peirefc, whofe 
life is written by Gaflendi. This life contains a number of 
curious facts and obfervations. Among others, M. de Peirefc 
(lifcovered the caufe of the pretended fhower of blood at 
^ix^ which had created fo general an alarm. About the be- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 307 

ginning of July, the walls of a church-yard adjacent to the 
city, and particularly the walls of the fmall villages in the 
neighbourhood, were obferved to be fpotted with large drops 
of a blood-coloured liquid. The people, as well as fome 
theologians, confidered thofe drops as the operation of for- 
cerers, or of the Devil himfelf. M. de Peirefc, about that 
time, had picked up a large and beautiful chryfalis, which he 
laid in a box. Immediately after its transformation into the 
butterfly ftate, M. de Peirefc remarked, that it had left a 
drop of blood-coloured liquor on the bottom of the box, and 
that this drop, or ftain, was as large as a French fou. The 
red ftains on the walls, on ftones near the highways, and in 
the fields, were found to be perfectly fimilar to that on the 
bottom of M. de Peirefc's box. He now no longer hefitat- 
ed to pronounce, that all thofe blood-coloured ftains, where- 
ever they appeared, proceeded from the fame caufe. The 
prodigious number of butterflies which he, at the fame time, 
faw flying in the air, confirmed his original idea. He like- 
wife obferved, that the drops of the miraculous rain were 
never found in the middle of the city ; that they appeared 
only in places bordering upon the country ; and that they 
never fell upon the tops of houfes, or upon walls more elevat- 
ed than the height to which butterflies generally rife. \Yhat 
M. de Peirefc faw himfelf, he fliowed to many perfons of 
knowledge, or of curiofity, and eftablifhed it as an incontef- 
tible fact, that the pretended drops of blood were, in reality, 
drops of a red liquor depofited by butterflies. 

To tne fame caufe M. de Peirefc attributes fome other 
fhowers of blood related by hiftorians ; and it is worthy of 
remark, that all of them are faid to have happened in the 
warm feafons of the year, when butterflies are mod nume- 
rous. Among others, Gregory of Towers mentions a fhow- 
er of blood which fell, in the time of Child ebert, in differ- 
ent parts of Parisj and upon a certain hoyfe in the territory 



SOS "The philosophy 

of Senlis ; and, about the end of the month of June, anoth- 
er likewife fell under the reign of King Robert. 

M. de Reaumur remarks, that almoft all the butterflies 
which proceeded from different fpecies of hairy caterpillars 
in his pofTefilon, voided at leaft one, and often feveral large 
drops of excrement, which had the colour of blood. The 
hairy caterpillar that feeds upon the leaves of the elm-tree, 
after its transformation, emits drops, the colour of which is of 
a more deep red than that of blood *, and, after being dried, 
their colour approaches to that of carmine. From another 
caterpillar of the elm* which is larger, and much more com- 
mon than the former, proceeds a butterfly, that, immediately 
after its transformation, emits a great quantity of red excre- 
ment. This fpecies of caterpillar, in particular years, is fo 
numerous, that it lays bare the whole trees in certain diftricls. 
Myriads of them are transformed into chryfalids about the 
end of May or beginning of June. "When about to undergo 
their metamorphofis, they often attach themfelves to the 
walls, and even enter into the country houfes. If thefe but- 
terflies were all brought forth at the fame time, and flew in 
the fame direction, their number would be fufficient to 
form fmall clouds, to cover the flones, &c. of particular dis- 
tricts with blood-coloured fpots, and to convince thofe who 
with to fright themfelves, and to fee prodigies, that a fhower 
of blood had fallen during the night. Some of thofe hairy 
caterpillars which live in fociety upon nettles, likewife emit 
an excrementitious matter of a red colour. A thoufand ex- 
amples of the fame kind might be enumerated. Hence the 
notion of miraculous or portentous fhowers of blood fhould 
be forever banilhed from the minds of men. 

I would not have faid fo much upon this fubjecl:, if I had 
not confidered it to be the duty of every man, when it is in 
his power, to remove popular prejudices, efpecially when 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 309 

they have a direct tendency to terrify the minds of men, and 
to cherifh ignorance and fuperftition. 

We not only read of mowers, but, what feems to be more 
Unaccountable, of fountains running occafionally with blood 
inftead of water. Sir David Dalrymple, one of the Senators 
of the College of Juftice in Scotland, a gentleman not more 
diftinguiflied by his learning and deep refearch, than by his 
fcrupulous integrity and propriety of conduct, relates, in his 
Annals of Scotland*, upon the authority of Hoveden and 
Benedictus Abbas, that, in the year 1184, « A fountain near 
1 Kilwinningf, in the mire of Air, ran blood for eight days 
4 and eight nights without intermiffiom This portent had 
1 frequently appeared, but never for fo a long fpace. In the 
' opinion of the people of the country, it prognofticated the 
c effuiion of blood. Benedictus Abbas, and R. Hoveden, 
c relate the {lory of this portent with perfect credulity. Be- 
■ nedidtus Abbas improves a little upon his brother ; for he 
c is pofitive that the fountain flowed with pure blood/ If Kil- 
winning, like Aix, had poffeffed fuch a philofopher as Peirefc, 
the rednefs of the water, if ever it did appear, would have 
received a moil fatisfactory explanation. 

Transformations are not peculiar to animals. All orga- 
nized bodies pafs through fucceflive changes. Plants, of 
courfe, are not exempted from mutation. What an amaz- 
ing difference between an acorn and a ftately oak ? The 
feeds of plants may be compared to the chryfalids of butter- 
flies. The feed, like the chryfalis, contains, in miniature, 
all the parts of the future plant. Thefe parts require only 
time, and other circumftances neceffary to vegetation, for 
their complete evolution. How different are the feed- 
leaves from thofe of the plume ? Befide the general chang- 
es ariflng from growth, plants undergo a number of meta- 

* Vol, i. page 298. 

I A Scottifli village. 

P V 



310 THE PHILOSOPHY 

rtiorphofes from other caufes. In northern climates, if we 
except a few evergreens, trees, during winter, are entirely 
ftripped of their leaves. Inftead of the pleafanl emotions 
excited by the variety of figures, movements, colours, and 
fragrance of the leaves, flowers, and fruit, during the fpring 
and fummer, nothing is exhibited in winter but the bare 
items and branches. In this ftate, the trees of the foreft 
have a lugubrious appearance, and remind us of death and 
of Ikeletons. Very different are the emotions we feel in 
the fpring, when fhe buds begin to burft, and the leaves to 
expand. When fummer approaches, another beautiful 
change takes place. The flowers, with all their fplendour 
of colours, and fweetnefs of flavours, are then highly de- 
lightful to our fenfes. After performing the office of cher- 
ilhing and protecting the tender fruit for fome time, the 
flowers drop off, and a new change is exhibited. When the 
flowers fall, the young fruit appear, and gradually grow to 
maturity, perpetually prefenting varieties in their magnitude, 
colour, odour, and flavour. When the fruit or feeds are 
fully ripe, they are gathered for the ufe of man, drop down 
upon the earth, or are devoured by birds and other animals. 
After this change happens, to which all the others were only 
preparatory, the leaves begin to fhed, winter commences* 
and the fame feries of metamorphofes go on during the ex- 
iftence of the plant. 

The changes juft now mentioned are annual, and are ulti- 
mately intended to fupply men and other animals with food. 
But plants are fubje&ed to changes of form from caufes of a 
more accidental nature. Varieties or changes in the figure 
of plants are often produced by foil, by fituation, by culture, 
and by climate. 

A plant is compofed of the bark, the liber or inner circle, 
the wood, and the pith. The calyx or cup, the carolla or 
fiower leaves, the ftamina, and piftils, are only expanfions of 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. SH 

the bark, the liber, the wood, and the pith. The petals of 
all flowers, in a natural ftate, are fingle. But, when tranf- 
planted into gardens, many of them, efpecially thofe which 
are furnifhed with numerous ftamina, as the anemone, the 
poppy, the peony, the ranunculus, the daify, the marigold, 
the rofe, &c. double, or rather multiply their flower-leaves 
without end. This change from fingle to double, or mon ? 
ftrous flowers, as they are called, is produced by too great a 
quantity of nutricious juices, which prevents the fubftance of 
the liber from condenfing into wood, and transforms the fta- 
mina into petals ; and it not unfrequently happens, that, 
when thefe double flowering plants are committed to a poor 
foil, they become drier, are reduced to their natural ftate, 
and produce fingle flowers only. Plants which inhabit the 
valleys, when tranfported to the tops of mountains, or other 
elevated fituations, not only become dwarfifh, but undergo 
fuch changes in their general ftructure and appearance, that 
they are often thought to belong to a different fpecies, though 
they are, in reality, only varieties of the fame. Similar 
changes are produced when Alpine or mountain plants are 
cultivated in the valleys. 

From culture and climate, likewife, plants undergo many 
changes. But this fubject is fo generally known, that to en- 
large upon it would be entirely fuperflous. We fhall only 
remark, that the older botanifts, when they perceived the 
fame fpecies of plants growing in a different foil, or in a dif- 
ferent climate, affume fuch different appearances, confidered 
and enumerated them as diftinct fpecies. But the modern 
botanifts, to prevent the unneceflary multiplication of fepa- 
rate beings, have endeavoured to reduce all thofe varieties 
arifing from fortuitous circumftances to their original fpecies. 

From thefe facts, and many others which might be men- 
tioned, it appears, that, in both the animal and vegetable 
kingdoms, forms are perpetually changing. The mineral 



312 THE PHILOSOPHY 

kingdom is not lefs fubject to metamorphofes ; but thefe be- 
long not to our prefent fubject. Though forms continually 
change, the quantity of matter is invariable. The fame fub- 
fiances pafs fucceffively into the three kingdoms, and confti- 
tute, in their turn, a mineral, a plant, an infect, a reptile, a 
fifh, a bird, a quadruped, a man. In thefe transformations, 
organized bodies are the principal agents. They change or 
decompofe every fubftance that either enters into them, or 
is expofed to the action of their powers. Some they aflimu- 
late, by the procefs of nutrition, into their own fubftance ; 
others they evacuate in different forms ; and thefe evacua- 
tions make ingredients in the compositions of other bodies, 
as thofe of infects, whofe multiplication is prodigious, and 
affords a very great quantity of organized matter for the 
nourifhment and fupport of almoft every animated being. 
Thus, from the apparently vileft and moft contemptible fpe- 
cies of matter, the richeft productions derive their origin. 
The mod beautiful flowers, the moft exquifite fruits, and the 
moft ufeful grain, all proceed from the bofom of corrup- 
tion. The earth is continually beftowing frefli gifts upon 
us -, and her powers would foon be exhaufted, if what (he 
perpetually gives were not perpetually reftored to her. It is 
a law of Nature, that all organized bodies fhould be decom- 
pofed, and gradually transformed into earth. While under- 
going this fpecies of diflblution, their more volatile particles 
pafs into the air, and are diffufed through the atmofphere. 
Thus animals, at leaft portions of them, are buried in the air, 
as well as in the earth, or in water. Thefe floating particles 
foon enter into the composition of new organized beings, 
who are themfelves deftined to undergo the fame revolutions. 
This circulation of organized matter has continued fince the 
commencement of the world, and will proceed in the fame 
courfe till its final destruction. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. §18 

With regard to the intentions of nature in changing forms, 
a complete investigation of them exceeds the powers of hu- 
man refearch. One great intention, from the examples above 
enumerated, cannot efcape obfervation. In the animal world, 
every fucceflive change is a new approach to the perfection of 
the individuals. Men, and the larger animals, Come time af- 
ter the age of puberty, remain Stationary, and continue to 
multiply their fpecies for periods proportioned to their res- 
pective fpecies. When thofe periods terminate, they gradu- 
ally decay till their final dilTolution. The fame obfervation 
is applicable to the infect tribes, whofe transformations ftrike. 
us with wonder. The caterpillar repeatedly moults cr cafts 
off its fkin. The butterfly exifted originally in the body of 
the caterpillar ; but the organs of the fly were too foft, and 
not fufficiently unfolded. It remains unfit to encounter the 
open air, or to perform the functions of a perfect animal, till 
fome time after its transformation into a chryfalis. It then 
burfts through its envelope, arrives at a ftate of perfection, 
multiplies its fpecies, and dies. All the changes in the vege- 
table kingdom tend to the fame point. In the procefs of 
growing, they are perpetually changing forms till they pro- 
duce fruit, and then they decay. Some plants, like caterpil- 
lars, go through all their transformations, death not excepted, 
in one year. But others, like man and the larger animals, 
befide the common changes produced by growth and the evo- 
lution of different organs, continue for many years in a ftate 
of perfection before the periods of decay and of diffolution 
arrive. But thefe perennial plants undergo, every year, all 
the viciffitudes of the annuals. They every year increafe 
in magnitude, fend forth new leaves and branches, ripen and 
diffeminate their feeds, and, during winter, remain in a tor- 
pid ftate, or fuffer a temporary death. Thefe annual chang- 
es in trees, &c. have fome refemblance to thofe of animals 
which produce at certain ftated feafons only. 



$14 THE PHILOSOPHY 

The diftribution of life to an immenfity of fucceffive indi- 
viduals feems to be another intention of Nature in chang- 
ing forms, and in the diffolution of her productions. Were 
the exiftence of individuals perpetual, or were it prolonged 
for ten times the periods now eftablifhed, life would be de- 
nied to myriads of animated beings, who enjoy their prefenfc 
limited portion of happinefs, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 3l5 

CHAPTER XIIL 

Of the Habitations of Animals. 

JVlANY animals, as well as thofe of the human 
fpecies, are endowed by Nature with an architectonic facul- 
ty. This faculty is beftowed upon them for a number of 
wife and ufeful purpofes. It enables them to conftruct pro- 
per habitations for concealing themfelves, for defending them 
againft the attacks of their enemies, for fheltering and cher- 
ifliing their young, and for protecting them from the injuries 
of the weather. 

All animals of the fame fpecies, when not reftrained by acci-* 
dental caufes, uniformly build in the fame ftyle, and ufe the 
fame materials. From this general rule man is to be except- 
ed. PofTelTed of a fnperior number of inflincls, of which 
the reafoning faculty is a remit*, he can build in any ftyle, 
and employ fuch materials as his tafte, his fancy, or the pur- 
pofes for which the fabric is intended, fhall direct him. A 
cottage or a palace are equally within the reach of his poW«* 
ers. In treating of this fubject, we mean not to trace the 
progrefs of human architecture, which, in the earlier ftages 
of fociety, is extremely rude, but to confine ourfelves to that 
of the inferior tribes of animated beings. 

With regard to quadrupeds, many of them employ no 

kind of architecture, but live continually, and bring forth 
their young, in the open air. "When not under the imme» 

diate protection of man, thefe fpecies, in rough or ltormy 
weather, fhelter themfelves among trees or bufhes, retire un- 
der the coverture of projecting rocks, or the fides of hills 
oppofite to thofe from which the wind proceeds. Befider 
thefe arts of defence, to which the creatures are prompted by 
* See Chap. V. Of lafi«0» 



&16 THE PHILOSOPHY 

inftinct and experience, Nature furnifhes them, during the 
winter months, with a double portion of long hair, which 
protects them from cold, and other afTaults of the weather. 

Of the quadrupeds that make or choofe habitations for 
themfelves, fome dig holes in the earth, fome take refuge in 
the cavities of decayed trees, and in the clefts of rocks, and 
fome actually conftruct cabins or houfes. But the artifices 
they employ, the materials they ufe, and the fituations they 
felech are fo various, and fo numerous, that our plan necef- 
farily limits us to a few of the more curious examples. 

The Alpine marmot is a quadruped about iixteen inches 
in length, and has a fhort tail. In figure, the marmots have 
fome refemblance both to the rat and to the bear. When 
tamed, they eat every thing prefented to them, as flefh, 
bread, fruit, roots, pot-herbs, infects, &c. They delight in 
the regions of froft and of fnow, and are only to be found 
on the tops of the higheft mountains. Thefe animals remain 
in a torpid flate during winter. About the end of Septem- 
ber or the beginning of October, they retire into their holes, 
find never come abroad again till the beginning of April. 
Their retreats are formed with much art and precaution. 
With their feet and claws, which are admirably adapted to 
the purpofe, they dig the earth with amazing quicknefs, and 
throw it behind them. They do not make a firaple hole, or 
a flraight or winding tube, but a kind of gallery in the form 
of a Y, each branch of which has an aperture, and both ter- 
minate in a capacious apartment, where feveral of the ani- 
mals lodge together. As the whole operation is performed 
on the declivity of a mountain, this innermoft apartment is 
alone horizontal. Both branches of the Y are inclined. 
One of the branches defcends under the apartment, and 
follows the declivity of the mountain. This branch is a 
kind of aqueduct, and receives and carries off the excre- 
ments of the animals •, and the other, which rifes above the 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. SI 7 

principal apartment, is ufed for coming in and going out. 
The place of their abode is well lined with mofs and hay, 
of which they lay up great ftore during the fummer. 
are focial animals. Several of them live together, and work 
in common when forming their habitations. Thither they 
retire during rain, or upon the approach of danger. One of 
them ftands centinel upon a rock, while the others gambol 
upon the grafs, or are employed in cutting it, in order to 
make hay. If the centinel perceives a man, an eagle, a dog, 
brother dangerous animal, he alarms his companions by a 
loud whittle, and is himfelf the laft that enters the hole. 
As they continue torpid during the winter, and, as if they 
fbrefaw that they would then have no occafion for victuals, 
they lay up no provifjons in their apartments. But, when 
they feel the firft approaches of the fleeping feafon, they 
{hut up both parTages to their habitation ; and this operation 
they perform with fuch labour and folidity, that it is more 
eafy to dig the earth any where elfe than in fuch parts as 
they have thus fortified. At this time they are very fat, 
weighing fometimes twenty pounds. They continue to be 
plump for three months \ but afterwards they gradually de- 
cline, and, at the end of winter, they are extremely emaciat- 
ed. When feized in their retreats, they appear rolled up in 
the fo-fx-n of a ball, and covered with hay. In this ftate, 
they are fo torpid that they may be killed without feeming 
to feel pain. The hunters felect the fatten: for eating, and 
keep the young ones for taming. Like the dormice, and all 
the other animals which fleep during winter, the marmots are 
revived by a gradual and gentle heat : And it is remarkable, 
that thofe which are fed in houfes, and kept warm, never 
become torpid, but are equally active and lively during the 
whole year. 

We fhall now give a fhort account of the operations and 
s^chitedture of the beaver. This amphibious quadruped is 

Q Q 



$18 the philosophy 

about three feet in length, and its tail, which is of an oval 
figure, and covered with fcales, is eleven inches long. He 
ufes his tail as a rudder to direct his courfe in the water. 
In places much frequented by man, the beavers neither aflb- 
ciate nor build habitations. But, in the northern regions 
of both Continents, they afTemble in the month of June or 
July, for the purpofes of uniting into fociety and of build- 
ing a city. From all quarters they arrive in numbers, and 
foon form a troop of two or three hundred. The opera- 
tions and architecture of the beavers are fo well defcribed by 
the Count de Buffon, that we fhall lay it before our readers 
nearly in his own words. The place of rendezvous, he re- 
marks, is generally the fituation fixed upon for their eftablifh- 
ment, and it is always on the banks of waters. If the waters 
be flat, and feldom rife above their ordinary level, as in 
lakes, the beavers make no bank or dam. But in rivers or 
brooks, where the water is fubjecl: to rifings and fallings, they 
build a bank, which traverfes the river from one fide to the 
other, like a fluice, and is often from 80 to 100 feet long, by 
10 or 12 broad at the bafe. This pile, for animals of fo 
fmall a fize, appears to be enormous, and prefuppofes an in- 
credible labour*. But the folidity with which the work is 
conftrucled is frill more aftonifhing than its magnitude. The 
part of the river where they erect this bank is generally 
fhallow. If they find on the margin a large tree, which can be 
made to fall into the river, they begin, by cutting it down, to 
form the principal bafis of their work. This tree is often thick- 
er than a man's body. By gnawing it at the bottom with their 
four cutting teeth, they in a fhort time accomplifh their pur- 
pofe, and always make the tree fall acrofs the river. They 
next cut the branches from the trunk to make it lie level. 
Thefe operations are performed by the joint induftry of the 
v.* hole community. Some of them at the fame time traverfe 
* The largeft beaver* weig^i only 50 or 60 pounds. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. §T9 

the banks of the river, and cut down fmaller trees, from the 
fize of a man's leg to that of his thigh. Thefe they cut to a 
certain length, drefs them into ftakes, and firft drag them 
by land to the margin of the river, and then by water to the 
place where the building is carrying on, Thefe piles they 
link down, and interweave the branches with the larger 
ftakes. In performing this operation many difficulties are 
to be furmounted. In order to drefs thefe ftakes, and to 
put them in a Situation nearly perpendicular, fome of the 
beavers muft elevate, with their teeth, the thick ends againft 
the margin of the river, or againft the crofs tree, while oth- 
ers plunge to the bottom, and dig holes with their fore-feet 
to receive the points, that they may ftand on end. "When 
fome are labouring in this manner, others bring earth, which 
they plafh with their feet, and beat firm with their tails. 
They carry the earth in their mouths, and with their fore- 
feet. They tranfport earth in fuch quantities, that they fill 
with it all the intervals between the piles. Thefe piles con- 
fift of feveral rows of ftakes, of equal height, all placed oppo- 
site to each other, and extend from one bank of the river to 
the other. The ftakes facing the under part of the river 
are placed perpendicularly ; but thofe which are oppofed to 
the ftream flope upward to fuftain the prefTure of the water ; 
fo that the bank, which is ten or twelve feet wide at the 
bafe, is reduced to two or three at the top. Near the top, 
or thinneft part of the bank, the beavers make two or three 
Sloping holes, to allow the furface-water to efcape. Thefe 
they enlarge or contract in proportion as the river rifes or 
falls 5 and, when any breaches are made in the bank by fud- 
den or violent inundations, they know how to repair them 
when the water fubfides. 

Hitherto all thefe operations were performed by the unit- 
ed force and dexterity of the whole community. They now 
feparate into fmaller focieties, who build cabins or houfe. 



S20 THE PHILOSOPHY 

Thefe cabins are conftrudled upon piles near the margin of 
the river or pond, and have two openings, one for the ani- 
mals to the land, and the other for throwing themfelves into 
the water. The form of thefe edifices is either round or 
oval, and they vary in fize from four or five to eight or ten 
feet in diameter. Some of them confift of three or four 
ftories. Their walls are about two feet thick ; and are raif- 
ed perpendicularly upon planks, or plain flakes, which ferve 
both for foundations and floors to their houfes. When they 
confift of but one ftory, they rife perpendicularly a few feet 
only, afterwards affume a curved form, and terminate in a 
dome or vault, which anfwers the purpof e of a roof. They 
are built with amazing folidity, and neatly plaftered with a 
kind of ftucco both within and without. In the application 
of this mortar the tails of the beavers ferve for trowels, and 
their feet for plafhing. Their houfes are impenetrable to 
rain, and refift the moft impetuous winds. In their conftruo- 
tion, they employ different materials, as wood, flone, and a 
kind of fandy earth, which is not liable to be diflblved in 
water. The wood they ufe is generally of the light and ten- 
der kind, as alders, poplars, and willows, which commonly 
grow on the banks of rivers, and are more eafily barked, 
cut, and tranfported, than the heavier and more folid fpecies 
of timber. They always begin the operation of cutting trees 
at a foot or a foot and a half above the ground ; they la- 
bour in a fitting pofture ; and, befide the convenience of 
this pofture, they enjoy the pleafure of gnawing perpetually 
the bark and wood, which are their favourite food. Of thefe 
provifions they lay up ample ftores in their cabins to fupport 
them during the winter. Each cabin has its own magazine, 
which is proportioned to the number of its inhabitants, who 
have all a common right to the flore, and never pillage their 
neighbours. Some villages are compofed of twenty or 
twenty-five cabins. But thefe large eftablifhments are not 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. %'2\ 

frequent ; and the common republics feldom exceed ten or 
twelve families, of which each have their own quarter of the 
village, their own magazine, and their feparate habitation 
The fmalleft. cabins contain two, four, or fix, and the larg* 
eft eighteen, twenty, and fometimes thirty beavers. As to 
males and females, they are almoft always equally paired. 
Upon a moderate computation, therefore, the fociety is often 
compofed of 150 or 200, who all, at firft, labour jointly in 
raifing the great public building, and afterwards, in felect 
tribes or companies, in making particular habitations. In 
this fociety, however numerous, an univerfal peace is main- 
tained. Their union is cemented by common labours -, and 
it is perpetuated by mutual conveniency, and the abundance 
of provifions which they amafs and confume together. A 
fimple tafle, moderate appetites, and an aversion to blood 
and carnage, render them deftitute of the ideas of rapine and 
of war. Friends to each other, if they have any foreign 
enemies they know how to avoid them. When danger ap- 
proaches, they advertife one another, by ftriking their broad 
tail on the furface of the water, the noife of which is heard 
at a great diftance, and refounds through all the vaults of 
their habitations. Each individual, upon thefe occafions, 
confults his own fafety j fome plunge into the water 5 oth- 
ers conceal themfelves within their walls, which can be pene- 
trated only by the fire of heaven, or the fteel of man, and 
which no animal will attempt either to open or to overturn. 
Thefe retreats are not only fafe, but neat and commodious. 
The floors are fpread over with verdure : The branches of 
the box and of the fir ferve them for carpets, upon which 
they permit not the fmalleft dirtmefs. The window that 
faces the water anfwers for a balcony to receive the frefii air, 
and for the purpofe of bathing. During the greater part of 
the day, the beavers fit on end, with their head and the an- 
terior parts of their body elevated, and their poflerior parts 



£22 THE PHILOSOPHY 

funk in the water. The aperture of this window is fuffici- 
fpntly raifed to prevent its being flopped up with the ice, 
which, in the beaver climates, is often two or three feet 
thick. When this accident happens, they flope the fole 
of the window, cut obliquely the ftakes which fupport it, 
and thus open a communication with the unfrozen water. 
They often fwim a long way under the ice. The continual 
habit of keeping their tail and pofterior parts of their body 
in the water, appears to have changed the nature of their 
flefh ; for that of their anterior parts, as far as the reins, 
has the tafte and confiftence of the flefh of land-animals ; 
but that of the tail and pofterior parts has the odour and all 
the other qualities of fifli. The tail, which is a foot long, an 
inch thick, and five or fix inches broad, is a genuine portion 
of a fifh attached to the body of a quadruped : It is wholly 
covered with fcales, and below the fcales with a fkin perfectly 
fimilar to that of large fifties. In September, the beavers 
collect their provifions of bark and of wood. Till the end of 
winter, they remain in their cabins, enjoy the fruits of their 
labours, and tafte the fweets of domeftic happinefs. This 
is their time of repofe, and their feaf'on of love. Knowing 
and loving one another, each couple unite, not by chance, but 
by tafle and a real feleclion. The females bring forth in the 
end of winter, and generally produce two or three at a time. 
About this period they are left by the males, who retire to 
the country to enjoy the pleafures and the fruits of the fpring. 
They return occafionally, however, to their cabins ; but 
dwell there no more. The mothers continue in the cabins, 
and are occupied in nurfing, protecting, and rearing their 
young, which in a few weeks are in a condition to follow 
their dams. The beavers affemble not again till autumn, 
unlefs their banks or cabins be injured by inundations •, for, 
when accidents of this kind happen, they fuddenly collect 
their forces, and repair the breaches that have been made. 



Of natural history. 323 

This account of the fociety and operations of beavers* 
however marvellous it may appear, has been eftablifhed and 
confirmed by fo many credible eye-witnefles, that it is impof- 
iible to doubt of its reality. 

The habitation where moles depofit their young merits a 
particular defcription ; becaufe it is conftructed with pecu- 
liar intelligence, and becaufe the mole is an animal with 
which we are well acquainted. They begin by railing the 
earth, and forming a pretty high arch. They leave parti- 
tions, or a kind of pillars, at certain diftances, beat and prefs 
the earth, interweave it with the roots of plants, and render it 
fo hard and folid, that the water cannot penetrate the vault, 
on account of its convexity and firmnefs. They then elevate 
a little hillock under the principal arch ; upon the latter 
they lay herbs and leaves for a bed to their young. In this 
fituaticn they are above the level of the ground, and, of 
courfe, beyond the reach of ordinary inundations. They 
are, at the fame time, defended from the rains by the large 
vault that covers the internal one, upon the convexity of 
which laft they reft along with their young. This internal 
hillock is pierced on all fides with floping holes, which de- 
fcend ftill lower, and ferve as fubterraneous paffes for the 
mother to go in queft of food for herfelf and her offspring* 
Thefe by-paths are beaten and firm, extend about twelve or 
fifteen paces, and iftue from the principal manfion like rays 
from a centre. Under the fuperior vault we likewife find 
remains of the roots of the meadow faffron, which feem to 
be the firft food given to the young. From this defcription 
it appears, that the mole never comes abroad but at confider* 
able diftances from her habitation. Moles, like the beavers, 
pair ; and fo lively and reciprocal an attachment fubfifts be- 
tween them, that they feem to difrelifh all other fociety. In 
their dark abodes they enjoy the placid habits of repofe and 
ef folitude, the art of fecuring tkemfelves from, injury, of aW 



&24 f HE PHILOSOPHY 

mod inftantaneoufly making an afylum or habitation, and of 
procuring a plentiful fubfiftence without the neceflity of go- 
ing abroad. They fhut up the entrance of their retreats, 
and feldom leave them, unlefs compelled by the admifiion 
of water, or when their manfions are demolifhed by art. 

The nidification of Birds has at all times defervedly called 
forth the admiration of mankind. In general, the nefts of 
birds are built with an art fo exquifite, that an exact imita- 
tion of them exceeds all the powers of human fkill and in- 
duftry. Their ftyle of architecture, the materials they em- 
ploy, and the filiations they felect, are as various as the dif- 
ferent fpecies. Individuals of the fame fpecies, whatever re- 
gion of the globe they inhabit, collect the fame materials, ar- 
range and conftruct them in the fame form, and make choice 
of fitnilar fituations for erecting their temporary habitations ; 
for the nefts of birds, thofe of the eagle-kind excepted, after 
the young have come to maturity, are forever abandoned by 
the parents. 

To defcribe minutely the nefts of birds would be a vain at- 
tempt. Such defcriptions could not convey an adequate idea 
of their architecture to a perfon who had never {een one of 
thofe beautiful and commodious habitations, which even 
aftonifh and excite the amazement of children. 

The different orders of birds exhibit great variety in the 
materials and ftructure of their nefts. Thofe of the rapaci- 
ous tribes are in general rude, and compofed of coarfe mate- 
rials, as dried twigs, bents, &c. But they are often lined 
with foft fubftances. They build in elevated rocks, ruinous 
and fequeftered caftles and towers, and in other folitary re- 
tirements. The aiery or neft of the eagle is quite flat, and 
hot hollow, like thofe of other birds. The male and female 
commonly place their neft between two rocks, in a dry and 
inacceffible fituation. The fame neft, it is faid, ferves the 
eagle during life. The ftructure is fo conftderable, and com- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 525 

pofed of fuch folid materials, that it may laft many years. Its 
form refembles that of a floor. Its bafis confifts of fticks 
about five or fix feet in length, which are fupported at each 
end, and thefe are covered with feveral layers of rufhes and 
heath. An eagle's neft was found in the Peak of Derby- 
shire, which "Willoughhy defcribes ia the following manner : 
c It was made of great fticks, refting one end on the edge of 
f a rock, the other on a birch tree. Upon thefe was a layer 
c of rufhes, and over them a layer of heath, and on' the heath 1 
c rufhes again ; upon which lay one young, and an addle egg \ 
c and by them a lamb, a hare, and three heath pouts. The 
c neft was about two yards fqu'are, and had no hollow in it.' 
But the butcherbirds, or lhrikes, which are lefs rapacious 
than eagles and hawks, build their habitations in fhrubs and 
bufhes, and employ mofs, wool, and other foft materials. 

The birds belonging to the order of Pies in the ingenious 
Mr. Pennant's Genera of Birds, are extremely irregular in 
conftrucling their nefls. The common magpies build their 
nefts in trees, and their ftruclure is admirably contrived for 
affording warmth aud protection to the young. The neft is 
not open at the top : It is covered, in the mcft dexterous 
manner, with an arch or dome, and a fmall opening in the 
fide of it is left, to give the parents an opportunity of paffing 
in and out at their pleafure. To protect their eggs and young 
from the attacks of other animals, the magpies place, all 
round the external furface of their neft, fharp briars and 
thorns. The long-tailed titmoufe, or ox-eye, builds nearly 
like the wren, but with ftill greater art. With the fame ma- 
terials as the reft of the ftructure, the titmoufe builds an 
arch over the top of the neft, which refembles an egg erect- 
ed upon one end, and leaves a fmall hole in the fide for a 
paflage. Both eggs and young, by this contrivance, are de- 
fended from the injuries of the air, rain, cold, &c. That 
the young may have a foft and warm bed, fhe lines the in- 

R R 



326 THE PHILOSOPHY 

fide of the neft with feathers, down, and cobwebs. The fides 
and roof are compofed of mofs and wool interwoven in the 
moft curious and artificial manner. 

In treating of inftincT:, it was mentioned, that, in warm 
climates, many fmall birds fufpended their nefts on tender 
twigs of trees, to prevent them from being deftroyed by the 
monkeys. In Europe, there are only three birds which build 
penfile nefts, namely, the common oriola, the parus penduli- 
nusy or hang-nefl titmoufe •, and another penfile neft, belong- 
ing to fome unkown bird, was lately difcovered by Mr. Pen- 
nant, near the houfe of Blair in Athole, in the north of Scot- 
land. « In a fpruce fir-tree/ Mr. Pennant remarks, f was a 
« hang-nefl of fome unknown bird, fufpended at the four 

* corners to the boughs. It was open at top, an inch and a 

* half diameter, and two deep •, the fides and bottom thick y 
' the materials mofs, worfted, and birch bark, lined with 
' feathers*/ 

Mr. Pennant, in his Indian Zoology, gives the following 
curious account of the manner in which the mota cilia futoria, 
or taylor bird, builds its neft. ' Had providence,' Mr. Pen- 
nant remarks, ' left the feathered tribes unendowed with 
« any particular inftinct, the birds of the torrid zone would 
' have built their nefts in the fame unguarded manner as 
' thofe of Europe ; but there the letter fpecies, having a cer- 
( tain prefcience of the dangers that furround them, and of 

* their own weaknefs, fufpend their nefts at the extreme 

* branches of the trees : They are confcious of inhabiting at 

* climate replete with enemies to them and their young j 
' with fnakes that twine up the bodies of the trees, and apes 

< that are perpetually in fearch of prey ; but, heaven-in- 

< ftructed, they elude the gliding of the one, and the activity 

* of the other. The brute creation are more at enmity with 

* one another than in other climates ; and the birds ar« 

* Pennant's Tour, vol. I. page 104. 3d edition. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY, 32T 

€ obliged to exert an unufual artifice in placing their little 
c broods out of the reach of an invader. Each aims at the 
' fame end, though by different means *, fome form their 

* penfile neft in fhape of a purfe, deep and open at top, oth- 
* ers with a hole in the fide, and others, ftill more cau- 

* tious, with an entrance at the very bottom, forming their 
1 lodge near the fummit*. But the taylor-bird feems to 
c have greater diffidence than any of the others : It will 
« not truft its neft even to the extremity of a {lender 

* twig, but makes one more advance to fafety by fixing 

* it to the leaf itfelf. It picks up a dead leaf, and fur- 

< prifing to relate, fews it to the fide of a living onef, 
( its flender bill being its needle, and its thread fome fine 

* fibres, the lining feathers, goflamer, and down. Its eggs 
c are white, the colour of the bird light yellow ; its length 

* three inches ; its weight only three fixteenths of an ounce ; 
' fo that the materials of the neft, and its own fize, are not 
« lively to draw down a habitation that depends on fo flight 
« a tenure %.' 

Birds of the gallinaceous or poultry kind lay their eggs on 
the ground. Some of them fcrape a kind of a hole in the 
earth, and line it with a little long grafs or ftraw. 

It is a Angular, though a well attefted fact, that the cuckow 
makes no neft, and neither hatches nor feeds her own young. 

* The hedge- fparrow,' fays Mr.Willoughby, c is the cuckow's 
« nurfe, but not the hedge-fparrow only, but alfo ring-doves, 
1 larks, finches. I myfelf, with many others, have feen a 
c wag-tail feeding a young cuckow. The cuckow herfelf 

< builds no neft ; but having found the neft of fome little 

< bird, fhe either devours or deftroys the eggs fhe there finds, 

* This inftinft prevails alfo among the birds on the banjcs of the Gambia, in 
Africa, which abounds with monkeys and makes : others, for the fame end, 
make their neft in ncles of the banks that overhang that vaft river ; Pur- 
ehas, vol, a, page 1576. 

f A neft of this bird is preferved in the Britifli Mufeum, 
\ Pennant'8 Indian Zoology, page 7. 



826 THE PHILOSOPHY 

,< and, in the room thereof, lays one of her own, and fo for- 
.* fakes it. The filly bird returning, fits on this egg, hatches 

< it, and, with a great deal of care and toil, broods, feeds, and 

< cherifhes the young cuckow for her own, until it be grown 
£ up and able to fly and fhift for itfelf. Which thing feems 
c fo ftrange, monftrous, and abfurd, that for my part I cannot 

* fufficiently wonder there fhould be fuch an example in Na- 

* ture ; nor could I ever have been induced to believe that 

< fuch a thing had been done by Nature's inftinct, had I not 
' with mine own eyes feen it. For Nature, in other things, 

< is wont conftantly to obferve one and the fame law and or- 
c der, agreeable to thehigheft reafon and prudence; which in 
f this cafe is, that the dams make nefts for themfelves, if need 

< be, fit upon their own eggs, and bring up their own young 

< after they are hatched*.' This oeconomy, in the hiftory 
of the cuckow, is not only lingular, but feems to con- 
tradict one of the moft univerfal laws eftablifhed among ani- 
mated beings, and particularly among the feathered tribes, 
namely, the hatching and rearing of their offspring. Still, 
however, like the oftrich in very warm climates, though the 
cuckow neither hatches nor feeds her young, ihe places her 
eggs in fituations where they are bcth hatched and her off- 
fpring brought to maturity. Here the ftupidity of the one 
animal makes it a dupe to the rapine and chicane of the other ; 
for the cuckow always deftroys the eggs of the fmall bird 
before flie depofits her own. 

Moft of the paflerine or fmall tribes build their nefts in 
hedges, fhrubs, or bufhes ; though fome of them, as the lark 
and the goat-fucker, build upon the ground. The nefts of 
fmall birds are more delicate in their ftruclure and contriv- 
ance than thofe of the larger kinds. As the fize of their 
bodies, and likewife that of their eggs, are fmaller, the mate- 
rials of which their nefts are compofed are generally warmer, 

* Willoughby's Ornithology, page 98. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 

Small bodies retain heat a (horter time than thofe which are 
large. Hence the eggs of fmall birds require a more conftan* 
fupply of heat than thofe of greater dimenfions. Their 
nefts, accordingly, are built proportionally warmer and deep- 
er, and they are lined with fofter fubftances. The larger 
birds, of courfe, can leave their eggs for feme time with im- 
punity ; but the fmaller kinds fit moil affiduoufly *, for, 
when the female is obliged to go abroad in queft of food, the 
neft is always occupied by the male. When a neft is finifta? 
ed, nothing can exceed the dexterity of both male and fe- 
male in concealing it from the obfervation of man, and of 
other deftructive animals. If it is built in bufhes, the pliant 
branches are difpofed in fuch a manner as to hide it entirely 
from view. To conceal her retreat, the chaffinch covers the 
outfide of her neft with mofs, which is commonly of the 
fame colour with the bark of the tree on which fhe builds. 
The common fwallow builds its neft on the tops of chim- 
neys ; and the martin attaches hers to the corners of win- 
dows, or under the eaves of houfes. Both employ the fame 
materials. The neft is built with mud well tempered by the 
bill, and moiftened with water to make it more firmly co- 
here j and the mud or clay is kept ftill firmer by a mixture 
of ftraw or grafs. Within it is neatly lined with feathers. 
Willoughby, on the authority of Bontius, informs us, ( That, 

* on the fea coaft of the kingdom of China, a fort of fmall 
? party-coloured birds, of the fhape of fwallows, at a certain 
e feafon of the year, viz. their breeding time, . come out of 
{ the midland country to the rocks •, and from the foam or 

* froth of the fea-water dafhing and breaking againft the 
f bottom of the rocks, gather a certain clammy, glutinous 
< matter, perchance the fperm of whales, or other fifties, of 

* which they build their nefts, wherein they lay their eggs, 
( and hatch their young. Thefe nefts the Chinefe pluck 
f from the rocks, and bring them in gceat numbers into the 



830 THE PHILOSOPHY 

< Eaft Indies to fell ; which are efteemed by gluttons great 

* delicacies, who, diflblvingthem in chicken or mutton broth, 
4 are very fond of them, preferring them far before oyfters, 
c mufhrooms, or other dainty and lickerifh morfels which 
c raoft gratify the palate. Thefe nefts are of a hemifpherical 

* figure, of the bignefs of a goofe-egg, and of a fubftance re- 

* fembling iling-glafs*/ 

Moft of the cloven-footed water-fowls, or waders, lay their 
eggs upon the ground. But the fpoon-bills and the common 
heron build large nefts in trees, and employ twigs and other 
coarfe materials ; and the ftorks build on churches, or on 
the tops of houfes. Many of the webb-footed fowls lay their 
eggs likewife on the ground, as the terns, and fome of the 
gulls and merganfers. But ducks pull the down from theip 
own breafts to afford a warmer and more comfortable bed 
for their young. The auks, the guillemots, and the puffins 
or coulternebs, lay their eggs on the naked (helves of high 
rocks. The penguins, for the fame purpofe, dig large and 
deep holes under ground. 

It is not unworthy of remark, that birds uniformly pro- 
portion the dimenfions of their nefts to the number and fize 
of the young to be produced. Every fpecies lays nearly a 
determined number of eggs. But, if one be each day ab- 
ftracled from the neft, the bird continues to lay daily more 
till her number is completed. Dr. Lifter, by this practice, 
made a fwallow lay no lefs than nineteen eggs. 

The habitations of InfeBs are next to be conffdered. On 
this branch of the fubject, we fhall firft give fome examples 
of abodes conftrucled by folitary workers, and next of thofe 
habitations which are executed by afibciated numbers. 

In feveral preceding parts of this work, and particularly 
in the chapter upon Inftinc~t, the reader will find fome in- 
stances of the Ikill and induftry exhibited by infects for the 
* Willoughby's Ornithology, page 215. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 3S1 

eonvenient lodging and protection of their young. Thefe it 
is unnecefTary to repeat. We fhall therefore proceed to give 
fome examples of a different kind. 

There are feveral fpecies of bees diftinguifhed by the ap- 
pellation of folitary y becaufe they do not affociate to carry on 
any joint operations. Of this kind is the mafon-bee, fo called 
becaufe it builds a habitation compofed of fand and mortar. 
The nefls of this bee are fixed to the walls of houfes, and, 
when finifhed, have the appearance of irregular prominences 
arifing from dirt or clay accidentally thrown againft a wall 
or ftone by the feet of horfes. Thefe prominencies are not 
fo remarkable as to attract attention ; but, when the exter- 
nal coat is removed, their ftrueture is difcovered to be truly 
admirable. The interior part cbnfifts of an affemblage of 
different cells, each of which affords a convenient lodgement 
to a white worm, pretty fimilar to thofe produced by the 
honey-bee. Here they remain till they have undergone all 
their metamorphofes. In conftructing this neft, which is a 
work of great labour and dexterity, the female is the fole 
operator. She receives no affiftance from the male. The 
manner in which the female mafon-bees build their nefls is 
the moft curious branch of their hiftory. 

After choofing a part of a wall on which fhe is refotved to 
fix an habitation for her future progeny, fhe goes in queft 
of proper materials. The neft to be conftructed muft confiit 
of a fpecies of mortar, of which fand is the balls. She knows, 
like human builders, that every kind of fand is not equally 
proper for making good mortar. She goes, therefore, to a 
bed of fand and felects, grain by grain, the kind which is- 
beft to anfwer her purpofe. With her teeth, which are as 
large and as ftrong as thofe of the honey-bee, fhe examines 
and brings together feveral grains. But fand alone will not 
make mortar. Recourfe muft be had to a cement fimilar to 
the flacked lime employed by mafons. Our bee is unac- 



432 TH£ PHILOSOPHY 

quainted with lime, but fhe poffelTes an equivalent in her own 
body. From her mouth ihe throws out a vifcid liquor, with 
which {he moiftens the firft grain pitched upon. To this 
grain fhe cements a fecond, which fhe moiftens in the fame 
manner, and to the former two fhe attaches a third, and Co 
on, till fhe has formed a mafs as large as the fhot ufually em- 
ployed to kill hares. This mafs fhe carries off in her teeth 
to the place fhe had chofe'n for erecting her neft, and makes 
it the foundation of the firft cell. In this manner ihe la- 
bours incefTantly till the whole cells are completed, a work 
which is generally accomplished in five or fix days. All the 
cells are fimilar, and nearly equal in dimenfions. Before" 
they are covered, their figure refembles that of a thimble; 
She never begins to make a fecond till the firft be finifhed. 
Each cell is about an inch high, and nearly half an inch in dia-» 
meter. But the labour of building is not the only one this 
female bee has to undergo. "When a cell has been raifed to 
one half or two thirds of its height, another occupation com- 
mences. She feems to know the quantity of food that will 
be neceffary to nourifh the young that is to proceed from the 1 
egg, from its exclufion till it acquires its full growth, and paf- 
fes into the chryfalis ftate. The food which is prepared for 
the fupport of the young worm confifts of the farina or pow- 
der of flowers, diluted with honey, which forms a kind of 
pap. Before the cell is entirely finifhed, the mafon-bee col- 
lects from the flowers, and depofits in the cell, a large quan- 
tity of farina, and afterwards difgorges upon it as mtich 
honey as dilutes it, aud forms it into a kind of pafte, or fyrup. 
When this operation is performed* fhe completes her cell, 
and, after depofiting an egg in it, covers the mouth of it with 
the fame mortar fhe ufes in building her neft. The egg is 
now inclofed on all fides in a walled habitation hermetically 
fealed. A fmali quantity of air, however, gets admifiion to 
the worm, otherwife it could not exift. Reaumur difcovered 



0* NATURAL HISTORY. 333 

that the air actually penetrated through this feemingly com- 
pact mafon-work. 

As foon as the firft cell is completed, the mafon-bee lays 
the foundation of another. In the fame neft flie often con- 
ftructs {even or eight cells, and fometimes only three or 
four. She places them near each other, but not in any re- 
gular order. This induftricus animal, after all her cells are 
conftructed, filled with provinons, and fealed, covers the 
whole with an envelope of the fame mortar, which, when 
drv, is as hard a? a ftone. The neft now is commonly of an 
oblong or roundifh figure, and the external cover is com- 
pofed of coarfer fand than that of the cells. As the nefts 
are almoft as durable as the walls on which they are placed, 
they are often, in the following feafon, occupied and repair- 
ed by a ftranger bee. Though inclofed with two hard walls, 
when the fly emerges from the chryfaiis ftate, it firft gnaws 
with its teeth a paiTage through the wall that fealed up the 
mouth of its cell, afterwards, with the fame instruments, it 
pierces the ftill ftronger and more compact cover which in* 
vefts the whole neft ; al laft it efcapes into the open air, and, 
if a female, in a fliort time, conftructs a neft of the fame 
kind with that which the mother had made. To ail thefe 
facts, Du Hamel, Reaumur, and many other naturalifts of 
credit and reputation, have been repeatedly eye-witnefTes. 

From the hardnefs of the materials with which the mafon- 
bee conftrucls her neft, from the induftry and dexterity fhe 
employs to protect her progeny from enemies of every kind, 
one fhould naturally imagine that the young worms were in 
perfect fafety, and that their caftle was impregnable. But, 
notwithstanding ail thefe favourable precautions, the young 
of the mafon-bee are often devoured by the inftinctive dex- 
terity of certain fpecies of four-winged infects, diftinguifhed 
by the name of ichneumon flies. Thefe flies, when the ma- 
fon-bee has nearlv completed a cell, and filled it with por* 

S s 



334? THE PHILOSOPHY 

vifions, depofit their own eggs in her cell. After the eggs 
of the ichneumon flies are hatched, their worms devour not 
only the provifions laid up by the mafon-bee, but even her 
progeny whom fhe had laboured fo hard, and with fo much 
art and ingenuity, to protect. But the mafon-bee has an ene- 
my ftill more formidable. A certain fly employs the fame 
ftratagem of insinuating an egg into one of her cells before 
it is completed. From this egg proceeds a ftrong and rapa- 
cious worm, armed with prodigious fangs. The devaftations 
of this worm are not confined to one cell. He often pierces 
through each cell in the neft, and fuceefii vely devours both 
the mafon-worms, and the provifions fo anxioufly laid up for 
their fupport by the mother. This ftranger worm is after- 
wards transformed into a fine beetle, who is enabled to pierce 
the neft, and to make his efcape. 

The operations of another fpecies of folitary bees, called 
wood-piercers.) merit attention. Thefe bees are larger than 
the queens of the honey-bee. Their bodies are fmooth, ex- 
cept the fides, which are covered with hair. In the fpring, 
they frequent gardens, and fearch for rotten, or at leaft dead 
wood, in order to make an habitation for their young. When 
a female of this fpecies, for fhe receives no afliftance from 
the male, has felected a piece of wood, or a decayed tree, 
fhe commences her labour by making a hole in it, which is 
generally directed toward the axis of the tree. When fhe 
has advanced about half an inch, fhe alters the direction of 
the hole, and conducts it nearly parallel to the axis of the 
wood. The fize of her body requires that this hole fhould 
have a confiderable diameter. It is often fo large as to ad- 
mit the finger of a man, aiad it fometimes extends from 
twelve to fifteen inches in length. If the thicknefs of the 
wood permits, fhe makes three or four of thefe long holes in 
its interior part. M. de Reaumur found three of thefe pa- 
rallel holes in an old efpalier poft. Their diameters exceed- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY: 355 

ed half an inch. This labour, for a {ingle bee, is prodigious ; 
but, in executing it, fhe confumes weeks, and even months. 

Around the foot of a poft or piece of wood where one of 
thefe bees are working, little heaps of timber- duft are always 
found lying on the ground. Thefe heaps daily increafe in 
magnitude, and the particles of duft are as large as thofe 
produced by a hand-faw. The two teeth with which the 
animal is provided are the only inflruments fhe employs in 
making fuch confiderable perforations. Each tooth conhTts 
of a folid piece of fhell, which in lhape refembles an auger. 
It is convex above, concave below, and terminates in a fharp 
but ftrong point. 

Thefe long holes are defigned for lodgings to the worms 
that are to proceed from the eggs which the bee is foon to 
depofit in them. But, after the holes are finifhed, her la- 
lour is by no means at an end. The eggs muft not be min- 
gled, or piled above each other. Every feparate worm muft 
have a diftinct apartment, without any communication with 
the others. Each long hole or tube, accordingly, is only the 
outer walls of a houfe which is to confift of many cham- 
bers ranged one above another. A hole of about twelve 
inches in length fhe divides into ten or twelve feparate ap- 
artments, each of which is about an inch high. The roof 
of the loweft room is the floor of the fecond, and fo on to 
the uppermoft. Each floor is about the thicknefs of a French 
crown. The floors or divifions are cornpofed of particles of 
wood cemented together by a glutinous fubftance from the 
animal's mouth. In making a floor, fhe commences with 
gluing an annular plate of wood-duft round the internal cir- 
cumference of the cavity. To this plate fhe attaches a fec- 
ond, to the fecond a third, and to the third a fourth, till the* 
whole floor is completed. The undermoft cell requires only 
a roof, and this roof is a floor to the fecond, &c. 



336 THE PHILOSOPHY 

We have hitherto defcribed the wonderful affiduity o$ 
this animal in conftrudling her cells. But this operation, 
though great, and feemingly fuperior to the powers of a 
creature {o imall, is not her only labour. Before roofing in 
the firft cell, fhe fills it with a pafte or pap, compofed of the 
farina of flowers moiftened with honey. The quantity of 
pafte is equal to the dimenfions of the cell, which is about an 
inch high, and half an inch in diameter. Into this pafte, 
which is to nourifh the future worm, fhe depofits an egg. 
Immediately after this operation, fhe begins to form a roof, 
which not only inclofes the firft cell, but ferves as a floor to 
the fecond. The fecond cell fhe likewife fills with pafte, 
"depofits an eggy and then covers the whole with another roof. 
In this manner fhe proceeds, till fhe has divided the whole 
tube into feparate cells. A fingle tube frequently contains 
from ten to a dozen of thefe cells. When the cells are all 
inclofed, the bufinefs of this laborious bee is finifhed, and fhe 
takes no more charge of her future progeny. The attention 
and folicitude beftowed by many other animals, in rearing 
their young, are exerted after birth. But, in the wood- 
piercing bee, as well as in many other infects, this inftinctive 
attachment is reverfed. All her labours and all her cares 
are exerted before fhe either fees her offspring, or knows 
that they are to exift. But, after the defcription that has 
been given of her amazing operations, fhe will not be confid- 
ered as an unnatural mother. With aftonifhing induftry 
and perfeverance, fhe not only furnifhes her young with fafe 
and convenient lodgings, but lays up for them ftores of pro- 
vifions fufficient to fupport them till their final metamorpho- 
fis into flies, when the new females perform the fame almoft 
incredible operations for the protection and fuftenance of 
their own offspring. When the young worm is hatched, it 
has fcarcely fufficient fpace to turn itfelf in the cell, which 
is almoft entirely filled with the pappy fubftance formerly 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 837 

mentioned. But, as this fubftance is gradually devoured by 
the worm, the fpace in the cell neceffarily enlarges in propor- 
tion to the growth and magnitude of the animal. 

We are informed by M. de Reaumur*, that Mr. Pitot 
furnifhed him with a piece of wood, not exceeding an inch 
and a half in diameter, which contained the cells of a wood- 
piercing bee. He cut oft as much of the wood as was fufE- 
cient to expofe two of the cells to view, in each of which 
was a worm. The aperture he had made, to prevent the in- 
juries of the air, he clofed, by pafting on it a bit of glafs. 
The cells were then almoft entirely filled with pafte. The 
two worms were exceedingly fmall, and, of courfe, occupied 
but littfe fpace between the walls of the cells and the mafs of 
pafte. As the animals increafed in fize, the pafte daily dU 
minifhed. He began to obferve them on the 12th day of 
June ; and, on the 27th of the fame month, the pafte in each 
cell was nearly confumed, and the worm, folded in two, occu= 
pied the greater part of its habitation. On the 2d of July, 
the provifions of both worms were entirely exhaufted ; and, 
befide the worms themfelves, there remained in the cells 
only a few fmall, black, oblong grains of excrement. The. 
five or fix following days they fafted, which feemed to be a 
neceffary abftinence, during which they were greatly agitat- 
ed. They often bended their bodies, and elevated and de-> 
preffed their heads. Thefe movements were preparatory to 
the great change the animals were about to undergo. Be- 
tween the 7th and 8th of the fame month, they threw off 
their {kins, and were metamorphofed into nymphs. On the 
30th of July, thefe nymphs were transformed into flies fimi- 
lar to their parents, In a range of cells, the worms are of 
different ages, and, of courfe, of different fizes. Thofe in 
the lower cells are older than thofe in the fuperior ; be- 
caufe, after the bee has filled with pafte and enclofed its firit; 
* Tom, 1 1, page 5S. izmo edition. 



338 THE PHILOSOPHY 

cell, a eonfiderable time is requifite to collect provifions, and 
to form partitions for every fuccefiive and fuperior cell. The 
former, therefore, muft be transformed into nymphs and 
flies before the latter. Thefe circumftances are apparently 
forefeen by the common mother ; for, if the undermoft 
worm, which is oldeft, and fooneft transformed, were to 
force its way upward, which it could eafily do, it would not 
only difturb, but infallibly deftroy all thofe lodged in the fu- 
perior cells. But Nature has wifely prevented this devafta- 
tion •, for the head of the nymph, andconfequently of thefly, is 
always placed in a downward direction. Its firft ihftinclive 
movements muft, therefore, be in the fame direction. That the 
young flies may efcape from their refpedlive cells, the moth- 
er digs a hole at the bottom of the long tube, which makes 
a communication with the undermoft cell and the open air. 
Sometimes a fimilar paflage is made near the middle of the 
tube. By this contrivance, as all the flies inftinclively en- 
deavour to cut their way downward, they find an eafy and 
convenient paflage ; for they have only to pierce the floor 
of their cells, which they readily perform with their teeth. 

Another fmali fpecies of folitary bees dig holes in the 
earth to make a convenient habitation for their young. 
Their nefts are compofed of cylindrical cells fixed to one 
another, and each of them, in figure, refembles a thimble, 
Their bottom, of courfe, is convex and rounded. The bot- 
tom of the fecond is inferted into the entry of the firft ; and 
the entry of the fecond receives the bottom of the third. 
They are not all of the fame length. Some of them are five 
lines long, others only four, and their diameters feldom ex- 
ceed two lines. Sometimes only two of thefe ceils are join- 
ed together ; and, at other times, we find three cr four, 
which form a kind of cylinder. This cylinder is compofed 
®f alternate bands of two different colours : Thofe of the. 



of Natural history. 4s§ 

narrower!, at the juncture of two cells, are white, and thofe! 
of the broaden: are of a reddifh brown. The cells confift 
of a number of fine membranes, formed of a glutinous and 
tranfparent fubftance from the animal's mouth. Each cell 
our bee fills with the farina of flowers diluted with honey, 
and in this pafle fhe depofits an egg. She then covers the 
cell, by gluing to its mouth a fine cellular fubftance taken 
from the leaves of fome plant ; and in this manner fhe pro- 
ceeds till her cylindrical neft is completed. The worms 
which are hatched from the eggs feed upon the pafte, fo 
carefully laid up for them by the mother, till they are trans- 
formed into flies fimilar to their parents* 

Among wafps, as well as bees, there are folitary fpecies, 
which carry on no joint operations. Thefe folitary wafps 
are not lefs ingenious in constructing proper habitations for 
their young, nor lefs provident in laying up for them a ftore 
of nourifliment fufficient to fupport them till they are trans- 
formed into flies, or have become perfect animals*. But, to 
give a detailed defcription of their operations would lead us 
into a prolixity of which the plan of our work does not admit. 

On this fubject, however, it cannot efcape obfervation, that 
all the fagacity and laborious induftry exerted in the various 
inftances of animal architecture above defcribed, have one 
uniform tendency. They are defigned for the multiplica- 
tion, protection, and nourifhment of offspring. But many of 
them are fo artful, and require fuch perfevering labour, that 
the human mind is bewildered when it attempts to account 
for them. If we attend to the operations of quadrupeds, of 
birds, and of infects, moft of them, like pregnant women, 
feem to know, from their own feelings, and forefight, not 
only their prefent condition, but what futurity is to produce- 
To folve this problem, recourfe has been had by Des Cartes, 
by Buffon, and by other philofophers, to conformation o£ 
* See page 13.8. 



340 *THE PHILOSOPHY 

body and mechanical impulfe. Their reafonings, however, 
though often ingenious, involve the Subject in tenfold obfcur- 
ity. We can hardly fuppofe that the animals actually fore- 
fee what is to happen, becaufe, at firft, they have not had 
even the aid of experience ; and, particularly in fome of the 
infect tribes, the parents are dead before their young are 
produced. Pure inftincts of this kind, therefore, muft be re- 
ferred to another fource. In a chain of reafoning concern- 
ing the operations of Nature, fuch is the constitution of our 
minds, that we are under the neceility of reforting to an ulti- 
mate caufe. What that caufe is, it is the higheft prefump- 
tion in man to pretend to define. But, though we muft for- 
ever remain ignorantof the caufe, we are enabled to trace,and 
even to underftand, partially, fome of the effects •, and, from 
thefe effects, we perceive the molt confummate wifdom, the 
mod elegant and perfect contrivances to accomplifh the mul- 
tifarious and wonderful intentions of Nature. In contemplat- 
ing the operations of animals, from man down to the Seem- 
ingly moft contemptible infect, we are neceffarily compelled 
to refer them to pure inctincts, or original qualities of mind, 
Variegated by Nature according as the necemties, preferva- 
tion, and continuation of the different fpecies require. Let 
any man try to proceed a ftep farther, and, however he may 
deceive himfelf, and flatter his own vanity, he muft find, at 
laft, that he is clouded in obfeurity, and that men who have 
a more correct and unprejudiced mode of thinking will brand 
him with abfurdity, and of acting in direct oppofition to the 
cOnftitution and frame of the human mind. 

I fhall now give fome examples of the operations of affo- 
ciating infects, who conftruct habitations by exerting a com- 
mon and a mutual labour. 

The fkill and dexterity of the honey-bees, difplayed in the 
Conftruction of their combs or nefts, have at all times called 
forth the admiration of mankind* They are compofed of 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 341 

cells regularly applied to each others fides. Thefe cells are 
uniform hexagons or fix-fided figures. In a bee-hive, every 
part is arranged with fuch fymmetry, and fo finely finifhed<, 
that, if limited to the fame materials, the moft expert work- 
man would find himfelf unqualified to conftruct a fimilar 
habitation, or rather a fimilar city. 

Moft Natural Hiftorians have celebrated bees for their 
wifdom, for the perfection and harmony of their republican 
government, and for their perfevering induftry and wonderful 
oeconomy. All thefe fplendid talents, however, the late in- 
genious Count de BufFon has endeavoured to perfuade us, 
are only refults of pure mechanifm. But this is not the 
proper place to enter into a difcuflion of this point. It will 
fall more naturally to be treated of when we come to de- 
scribe the Societies eftablifhed among different gregarious 
animals. We fhall therefore, at prefent, confine ourfelves 
chiefly to the mode in which bees conftrudt their habita- 
tions. 

In the formation of their combs, bees feem to refolve a 
problem which would not be a little puzzling to fome geo- 
meters, namely, a quantity of wax being given, to make of 
it equal and fimilar cells of a determined capacity, but of the 
largefl fize in proportion to the quantity of matter employed, 
and difpofed of in fuch a manner as to occupy in the hive 
the leaft poflible fpace. Every part of this problem is com- 
pletely executed by the bees. By applying hexagonal cells 
to each other's fides, no void fpaces are left between them ; 
and, though the fame end might be accomplifhed by other 
figures, yet they would necefTarily require a greater quantity 
of wax. Befides, hexagonal cells are better fitted to receive 
the cylindrical bodies of thefe infects. A comb confifts of 
two ftrata of cells applied to each other's ends. This arrange* 
ment both faves room in the hive, and gives a double entry 
into the cells of which the comb is compofed. As a farther 

T T 



M2 THE PHILOSOPHY 

faving of wax, and preventing void fpaces, the bafes of th* 
cells in one ftratum of a comb ferve for bafes to the oppofite 
ftratum. In a word, the more minutely the conftruction of 
thefe cells are examined, the more will the admiration of the 
obferver be excited. The walls of the cells are fo extremely 
thin, that their mouths would be in danger of fuffering by the 
frequent entering and iffuing of the bees. To prevent this 
difafter, they make a kind of ring round the margin of each 
cell, and this! ring is three or four times thicker than the walls. 
It is difficult to perceive, even with the afiiftance of glafs- 
hives, the manner in which bees operate when conftrucling 
their cells. They are fo eager to afford mutual afiiftance, 
and, for this purpofe, fo many of them crowd together, and 
are perpetually fucceeding each other, that their individual 
Operations can feldom be diftinctly obferved. It has, how- 
ever, been plainly difcovered, that their two teeth are the on- 
ly inftruments they employ in modelling and polifhing the 
wax. "With a little patience and attention, we perceive cells 
juft begun : We likewife remark the quicknefs with which 
a bee moves its teeth againft a fmall portion of the cell. This 
portion the animal, by repeated ftrokes on each fide, fmooths, 
renders compact, and reduces to a proper thinnefs of con- 
fiftence. While fome of the hhe are lengthening their 
hexagonal tubes, others are laying the foundations of new 
ones. In certain circumftances, when extremely hurried, 
they do not complete their new cells, but leave them imper- 
fect till they have begun a number fufficient for their prefent 
exigencies.. When a bee puts its head a little way into a 
cell, we eafily perceive it fcraping the walls with the points 
of its teeth, in Order to detach fuch ufelefs and irregular 
fragments as may have been left in the work. Of thefe 
fragments the bee forms a ball about the fize of a pin-head, 
comes out of the cell, and carries this wax* to another part 
©f the work where it is needed. It no fooner leaves the- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 843 

cell than it is fucceeded by another bee, which performs 
the fame office, and in this manner the work is fucceffively 
carried on till the cell is completely polifhed. 

The cells of bees are defigned for different purpofes. 
Some of them are employed for the accumulation and pre- 
fervation of honey. In others, the female depofits her eggs, 
and from thefe eggs worms are hatched, which remain in 
the cells till their final transformation into flies. The drones 
or males are larger than the common or working bees ; and 
the queen, or mother of the hive, is much larger than either. 
A cell deftined for the lodgment of a male or .female worm 
mud, therefore, be iconfiderably larger than the cells of the 
fmaller working bees. The number of cells deftined for the 
reception of the working bees far exceeds thofe in which the 
males are lodged. The honey-cells are always made deeper 
and more capacious than the others. When the honey col- 
lected is fo abundant that the veffels cannot contain it, the 
bees lengthen, and of courfe deepen the honey-cells. 

Their mode of working, and the difpofition and divifion 
of their labour, when put into an empty hive, do much hon- 
our to the fagacity of bees. They immediately begin to lay 
the foundations of their combs, which they execute with 
furprifing quicknefs and alacrity. Soon after. they begin to 
eonftruct one comb, they divide into two or three companies, 
each of which, in different parts of the hive, is occupied 
with the fame operations. By this divifion of labour, a 
greater number of bees have an opportunity of being employ- 
ed at the fame time, and, confequently, the common work 'is 
fooner finifhed. The combs are generally arranged in a di- 
rection parallel to each other. .An interval or ftreet between 
the combs is always left, that the bees may have a free paf- 
fage, and an eafy communication with the different combs 
in the hive. Thefe ftreets are jufh wide enough to allow 
two bees to pafs one another. Befide thefe parallel ftreets, 



244? THE PHILOSOPHY 

to fhorten their journey when working, they leave feveral 
round crofs paffkges, which are always covered. 

Hitherto we have chiefly taken notice of the manner in 
which bees conftrucl: and polifh their cells, without treating 
of the materials they employ. We have not marked the dif- 
ference between the crude matter collected from flowers and 
the true wax. Every body knows that bees carry into their 
hives, by means of their hind thighs, great quantities of the 
farina or duft. of flowers. After many experiments made bv 
Reaumur, with a view to difcover whether this duft contain- 
ed real wax, he was obliged to acknowledge, that he could 
never find that wax formed any part of its compofition. He 
at length difcovered, that wax was not a fubftance produced 
by the mixture of farina with any glutinous fubftance, nor 
by trituration, or any mechanical operation. By long and 
attentive obfervation, he found that the bees actually eat the 
farina which they fo induftrioufly collect: ; and that this fari- 
na, by an animal procefs, is converted into wax. This di- 
geftive procefs, which is neceflary to the formation of wax, 
is carried on in the fecond ftomach, and perhaps in the intek 
tines of bees. After knowing the place where this operation 
is performed, chymifts will probably allow, that it is equally 
difficult to make real wax with the farina of flowers, as to 
make chyle with animal or vegetable fubftances, a work 
ivhich is daily executed by our own ftomach and inteftines, 
and by thofe of other animals. Reaumur likewife difcover- 
ed, that all the cells in a hive were not deftined for the re- 
ception of honey, and for depofiting the eggs of the female, 
but that fome of them were employed as receptacle* for the 
farina of flowers, a fpecies of food that bees find neceflary 
for the formation of wax, which is the great bafis and raw 
material of all their curious operations. When a bee comes 
to the hive with its thighs filled with farina, it is often met 
near the entrance by fome of it$ companions, who firft tak;£. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. S4?3 

off the load, and then devour the provifions {6 kindly 
brought to them. But, when none of il:.e bees employed 
in the hive are hungry for this fpecies of food, the carriers 
of the farina depofit their loads in cells prepared for that pur- 
pofe. To thefe cells the bees refort, when the weather is 
fo bad that they cannot venture to go to the fields in queft 
of frefii provifions. The carrying bees, however, commonly 
enter the hive loaded with farina. They walk along the 
combs beating and making a noife with their wings. By 
thefe movements they feem to announce their arrival lo their 
companions. No fooner has a loaded bee made thefe move- 
ments, than three or four of thofe within leave their work, 
come up to it, and firft take off its load, and then eat the ma- 
terials it has brought. As a farther evidence that the bees, 
actually eat the farina of flowers, when the ffomach and in«* 
teftines are laid open, they are often found to be filled with 
this duff, the grains of which, when examined by the mi- 
crofcope, have the exact figure, colour, and confidence of 
farina, taken from the antherae of particular flowers. After 
the farina is digefled, and converted into wax, the bees pok 
fefs the power of bringing it from their ftomachs to their 
mouths. The inftrument they employ in furnirhing mate- 
rials for constructing their waxen cells is their tongue. This 
tongue is fituated below the two teeth or fangs. When at 
work, the tongue may be feen by the ahiftance of a lens and 
a glafs-hive. It is then in perpetual motion, and its motions 
are extremely rapid. Its figure continually varies. Some-, 
times it is more fharp, at others it is. flatter, and fometimes it 
is more or lefs concave, and partly covered with a moihs 
pafle or wax. By the different movements of its tongue the 
bee continues to fupply frefh wax to the tv o teeth, which 
are employed in railing and fafhioning the walls of its cell, 
till they have acquired a fuflkient height. As foon as the 
jaripift pafte or wax dries, which it does abnoft inftantane* 



346 THE PHILOSOPHY 

oufly, it then afTumes aH the appearances and qualities of 
common wax. There is a ftill ftronger proof that wax is the 
refult of an animal procefs. When bees are removed into a 
new hive, and clofely confined from the morning to the even- 
ing, if the hive chances to pleafe them, in the courfe of this 
day feveral waxen cells will be formed, without the pofiibili- 
ty of a iingle bee's having had accefs to the fields. Be fides, 
the rude materials, or the farina of plants, carried into the 
hive," are of various colours. The farina of fome plants em- 
ployed by the bees is whitifti ; in others it is of a fine yel- 
low colour j in others it is almoft entirely red ; and in oth- 
ers it is green. The combs conftructed with thefe differ- 
ently coloured materials are, however, uniformly of the fame 
colour. Every comb, efpecially when it is newly made, is of 
a pure white colour, which is more or lefs tarnifhed by age, 
the operation of the air, or by other accidental circumftances. 
To bleach wax, therefore, requires only the art of extract- 
ing fuch foreign bodies as may have infinuated themfelves 
info its fubftance and changed its original colour. 

Bees, from the nature of their conftitution, require a 
warm habitation. They are likewife extremely folicitous 
to prevent infects of any kind from getting admittance into 
their hives. To aecomplifh both thefe purpofes, when they 
take pofieffion of a new hive, they carefully examine every 
part of it, and, if they difcover any fmall holes or chinks, 
they immediately pafte them firmly up with a refinous fub- 
ftance which differs confiderably from wax. This fubftance 
was not Unknown to the ancients. Pliny mentions it under 
the name oi propolis y or bee-glue. Bees ufe the propolis for 
rendering their hives more clofe and perfect, in preference 
to wax, becaufe the former is more durable, and more pow- 
erfully refifts the viciffitudes of weather than the latter. 
This glue is not, like wax, procured by an animal procefs. 
The bees collect it from different trees, as the poplars, the 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 34f7 

birches, and the willows. It is a complete production of 
Nature, and requires no addition or manufacture from the 
animals by which it is employed. After a bee has procured 
a quantity fufficient to fill the cavities in its two hind thighs, 
it repairs to the hive. Two of its companions inflantly 
draw out the propolis, and apply it to fill up fuch chinks, 
holes, or other deficiencies, as they find in their habitation. 
But this is not the only ufe to which bees apply the propo- 
lis. They are extremely folicitous to remove fuch infects or 
foreign bodies as happen to get admiffion into the hive. 
When {o light as not to exceed their powers, they firfl kill 
the infect with their flings, and then drag it out with their 
teeth. But itibmetimes happens that an ill-fated fnail creeps 
into the hive. It is no fooner perceived than it is attacked 
on all fides and flung to death. But how are the bees to 
carry out a burden of fuch weight ? This labour they know 
would be in vain. They are perhaps apprehenfive that a 
body fo large would diffufe, in the courfe of its putrefaction, 
a difagreeable or noxious odour through the hive. To pre- 
vent fuch hurtful confequences, immediately after the ani- 
mal's death, they embalm it, by covering every part of its 
body with propolis, through which no effluvia can efcape. 
"When a fnail with a fhell gets entrance, to difpofe of it gives 
much lefs trouble and expence to the bees. As foon as this 
kind of fnail receives the firfl wound from a fling, it natural- 
ly retires within its fhell. In this cafe, the bees, inflead of 
pafting it all over with propolis, content themfelves with 
gluing all round the margin of the fhell, which is fufEcient 
to render the animal forever immoveably fixed. 

But propolis, and the materials for making wax, are not 
the only fubflances thefe induflrious animals have to collect. 
As formerly remarked, befide the whole winter, there are 
many days in fummer in which the bees are prevented by 
the weather from going abroad in quefl of provifions. They 



348 THE PHILOSOPHY 

are, therefore, under the neceflity of collecting, and amafling 
in cells deftined for that purpofe, large quantities of honey. 
This fweet and balfamic liquor they extract, by means of 
their probofcis or trunk, from the nectariferous glands of 
flowers. The trunk of a bee is a kind of rough cartilaginous 
tongue. After collecting a few fmall drops of honey, the 
animal with its probofcis conveys them to its mouth and 
fwallows them. From the oefophagus or gullet, it paffes in- 
to the firft ftomach, which is more or lefs fwelled in propor- 
tion to the quantity of honey it contains. "When empty, it 
has the appearance of a fine white thread : But, when filled 
with honey, it affumes the figure of an oblong bladder, the 
membrane of which is fo thin and tranfparent, that it allows 
the colour of the liquor it contains to be diftin&ly feen. 
This bladder is well known to children who live in the coun- 
try. They cruelly amufe themfelves with catching bees, 
and tearing them afunder, in order to fuck the honey. A 
fingle flower furnimes but a fmall quantity of honey. The 
bees are, therefore, obliged to fly from one flower to anoth- 
er till they fill their firft ftomachs. When they have ac- 
complished this purpofe, they return directly to the hive, 
and difgorge in a cell the whole honey they have collected. 
It not unfrequently happens, however, that, when on its way 
to the hive, it is accofted by a hungry companion. How the 
one can communicate its neceflity to the other, it is perhaps, 
impofiible to difcover. But the fact is certain, that, when 
two bees meet in this fituation, they mutually flop, and the 
one whofe ftomach is full of honey extends its trunk, opens 
its mouth, which lies a little beyond the teeth, and like ru- 
minating animals, forces up the honey into that cavity. The 
hungry bee knows how to take advantage of this hofpitable 
invitation. With the point of its trunk it fucks the honey 
from the other's mouth. "When not flopped on the road, 
the bee proceeds to the hive, and in the fame manner offers 
its honey to thofe who are at work, as if it meant to prevent 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 349 

the neceflity of quitting their labour in order to go in queft 
of food. In bad weather, the bees feed upon the honey 
laid up in open cells ; but they never touch thefe refervoirs 
when their companions are enabled to fupply them with 
frefh honey from the fields. But the mouths of thofe cells 
which are deftined for preferving honey during winter, they 
always cover with a lid or thin plate of wax. 

Though not ftrictly connected with the prefent fubject, 
we cannot refrain from giving fome account of the ingenious 
Mr. Debraw's difcoveries concerning the fex tef bees, and the 
manner in which their fpecies is multiplied*. It was almoft 
tiniverfally believed, both by ancients and moderns, that bees* 
like other animals, propagated by an actual intercourfe of the 
male and female, though it never could be perceived by the 
mod attentive obfervers. Pliny remarks, that aplum coitus 
*infus eft nunquam < and even the indefatigable Reaumur, not- 
withstanding the many minute refearches and experiments 
he made concerning every part of the oeconomy of bees, and 
though he reprefents the mother, or queen-bee, as a perfect 
MeiTalina, could never detect an actual intercourfe. From 
this Angular circumftance, Maraldi, in his obfervations upon 
beesf, conjectured that the eggs of bees, like thofe of fifties, 
were impregnated after they were depofited in the cells by 
the mother. He was farther confirmed in this opinion, by 
uniformly obferving that a whitifh liquid fubftance furround- 
ed each egg which turned out to be fertile ; but that thofe 
eggs round which no fuch fubftance was to be found were al- 
ways barren. The working bees, or thofe which collect from 
flowers the materials of wax, have generally been confidered 
as belonging to neither fex. But Mr. Schirach, a German 
Naturalift, in his Hiftory of the Queen of the Bees, maintains, 
that all the common bees are females in a difguifed or barren 

* See Philofophical Tranfactions, ann. 1777, Part I. paje 15. 
f Hift.de I'Acad. de Scien. ann, 1712. 

U u 



$50 THE PHILOSOPHY 

ftate ; that the organs which diftinguifh the fex, and partfe 
cularly the ovaria, are either obliterated, or, on account of 
their minutenefs, have not hitherto been difcovered ; that, 
in the early period of its exiftence, every one of thefe bees is 
capable of becoming a queen-bee, if the community choofe 
to nurfe it in a certain manner, and to raife it to that dif- 
tinguiihed rank ; and that the queen-bee lays only two kinds 
of eggs, namely, thofe that are to produce drones or males, 
and thofe from which the working bees are to proceed. 

The conjecture of Maraldi concerning the impregnation of 
the eggs after they are depofited in the cells, as well as the 
obfervations of Mr. Schirach concerning the fex of the work- 
ing bees, have been completely verified by the experiments 
of Mr. Debraw. Both Maraldi and Reaumur had long ago 
difcovered, that, in every hive, befide the large drones, there 
are^males or drones as fmall as the working bees. By means 
of glafs -hives, Mr. Debraw obferved, that the queen-bee begins 
to depofit her eggs in the cells on the fourth or fifth- day af- 
ter the bees begin to work. On the firft or fecond day af- 
ter the eggs are placed in the cells, he perceived feveral bees 
finking the pofterior parts of their bodies into each cell, 
where they continued but a fhort time. After they had re- 
tired, he faw plainly with the naked eye a fmall quantity of 
whitifh liquor left in the bottom of each cell that contained 
an egg. Next day he found that this liquor was abforbed in- 
to the egg, which, on the fourth day, is hatched. When 
the worms efcape from the eggs, they are fed for eight or 
ten days with honey by the working bees. After that pe- 
riod they fhut up the mouths of the cells, where the worms 
continue inclofed for ten days more, during which time they 
undergo their different transformations. 

i I immerfed,' fays Mr. Debraw, < all the bees in water > 

* and, when they appeared to be in a fenfelefs ftate, I gently 

* preffed every one of them between my fingers, in order to* 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. SSI 

* diftinguifh thofe armed with ftings from thofe that had 
4 none, which laft I might fufpect to be males. Of thefe I 
« found fixty-feven, exactly of the lize of common bees, 

* yielding a little whitifh liquor on being preflfed between 
i the fingers. I killed every one, and replaced the fwarm 

* in a glafs-hive, where they immediately applied again to the 

* work of making cells ; and, on the fourth or fifth day, ve- 

* ry early in the morning, I had the pleafure to fee the queen*- 
■ bee depofiting her eggs in thofe cells, which fhe did by 

* placing the poflerior part of her body in each of them. I 
f continued to watch moll: part of the enfuing days, but 

* could difcover nothing of what* I had feen before. The 
c eggs, after the fourth day, inftead of changing in the man- 
4 ner of caterpillars, were found in the fame ft ate they were 

* in the firft day/ The next day about noon, the whole 
fwarm forfook the hive, probably becaufe the animals per<- 
ceived, that, without the afiiftance of males, they were un- 
qualified to multiply their fpecies. To ihow the neceffity 
of the eggs being fecundated by the male influence, Mr. De- 
braw relates an experiment ftill more decifive. 

i I took/ fays he, ' the brood-comb, which, as I obferved 

< before, had not been impregnated ; I divided- it into two 

< parts •, one I placed under a glafs-bell, No. 1. withhoney- 
4 comb for the bees food ; 1 1 ook care to leave a queen, but 
J no drones, among the common bees I confined in it. The 

* other piece of brood-comb I placed under another glafs- 

* bell, No. 2. with a few drones, a queen, and a number of 
4 common bees proportioned to the fize of the glafs. The 
' refult was, that, in the glafs No. 1. no impregnation hap- 
I pened ; the eggs remained in the fame ftate they were in 

* when put into the glafs ; and, upon giving the bees their 

* liberty on the feventh day, they all flew away, as was found 
f to be the cafe in the former experiment : Whereas, in the 
l glafs No. 2. I faw, the very day after the bees had beeii 



352 THE PHILOSOPHY 

* put under it, the impregnation of the eggs by the drones 
c in every cell containing eggs j the bees did not leave their 

< hive on receiving their liberty ; and, in the courfe of twen- 
€ ty days, every egg underwent all the above mentioned ne- 
c cefTary changes, and formed a pretty numerous young col- 
( ony, in which I was not a little flartled to find two queens.' 

The appearance of a new queen in a hive where there was 
no large or royal cell, made Mr. Debraw conjecture that the 
bees are capable, by fome particular means, of transforming 
a common fubjecl: into a queen. To afcertain the truth of 
this conjecture, he provided himfelf with four glafs-hives, 
into each of which he put a piece of brood-comb taken from 
an old hive. Thefe pieces of brood-comb contained eggs, 
worms, and nymphs. In each hive he confined a fufficient 
number of common bees, and fome drones or males, but 
took care that there fhould be no queen. 

< The bees/ Mr. Debraw remarks, « finding themfelves 

* without a queen, made a ftrange buzzing noife, which laft- 
« ed near two days, at the end of which they fettled, and be- 

< took themfelves to work. On the fourth day, I perceived 

< in each hive the beginning of a royal cell, a certain itidica- 
c tion that one of the inclojed worms would foon be converted into a 

* queen. The conftruction of the royal cell being nearly ac- 

* complifhed, I ventured to leave an opening for the bees 

< to get out, and found that they returned as regularly as 

< they do in common hives, and fhewed no inclination to 
c leave their habitation. But, to be brief, at the end of twen r 

< ty days, Lobferved four young queens among the new pro- 
t geny.' 

To thefe experiments of Mr. Debraw, it was objected, that 
the queen-bee, befide the eggs which fhe depofits in the 
royal cells, might likewife have laid royal or female eggs in 
the common cells ; and that the pieces of brood-comb, fo 
fuccefsfully employed in his experiments for the production 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 353 

of a queen, had always happened to contain one of thefe roy* 
al eggs, or rather one of the worms proceeding from them. 
But this objection was afterwards removed by many other 
accurate experiments, the refults of which were uniformly 
the fame ; and the objectors to Mr, Debraw's difcovery can- 
didly admit, that, when the community ftands in need of a 
queen, the working-bees poffefs the power of railing a com- 
mon fubject to the throne ; and that every worm of the hive 
is capable, under a certain courfe of management, of becom- 
ing the mother of a numerous progeny. This metamorpho^ 
iis feems to be chiefly accomplished by a peculiar nourifh- 
ment carefully adminiftered to the worm by the working- 
bees, by which, and perhaps by other unknown means, the 
female organs, the germs of which previoufly exifted in the 
embryo, are expanded, and all thofe differences in form and 
fize, that fo remarkably diftinguifh the queen from the work- 
ing-bees, are produced. 

It is always a fortunate circumftance when difcoveries, 
which at firh: feem calculated folely to gratify curiolity, are 
capable of being turned to the advantage of fociety. Mr. 
Debraw, accordingly, has not failed to point out the advan-e 
tages that may be derived from his refearches into the oecon- 
omy and nature of bees. By his difcovery, we are taught 
an eafy mode of multiplying, without end, fwarms, or new 
colonies, of thefe ufeful infects. Befide the great increafe 
of honey, if this difcovery were Sufficiently attended to, con- 
siderable fums annually expended in importing wax into this 
kingdom from the Continent might be faved. The practice 
of this new art, Mr. Schirach informs us, has already extend- 
ed itfelf through Upper Lufatia, the Palatinate, Bohemia, 
Bavaria, Silefia, and Poland. In fome of thefe countries, it 
has excited the attention, and acquired the patronage of gov^ 
ernment. The Emprefs of Ruffia, who never lofes fight of 
a tingle article by which the induftry, and, of courfe, the 



35* THE PHILOSOPHY 

happinefs of her fubjects can be augmented, has fent a proper 
perfon to Klein Bautzen to be inflructed in the general prin- 
ciples, and to learn all the minutiae of this new and import- 
ant art. 

Wafps, like the bees, affociate in great numbers, and con- 
struct, with much dexterity and Ikill, a common habitation. 
There are many fpecies of wafps, fome of which unite into 
focieties, and others fpend their lives in perfect folitude. 
But, in this place, we fhall confine our attention to the ope- 
rations of the common affociating wafp, an infect fo well 
known, even to children, that it requires no defcription. 
Though bees, as well as wafps, are armed with a fting, yet 
the former may be regarded as a placid and harmlefs race. 
Bees are continually occupied with their own labours. Their 
chief care is to defend themfelves *, and they never take 
nourifhment at the expence of any other animal. Wafps, on 
the contrary, are ferocious animals, who live entirely on ra-r 
pine and deftruction. They kill and devour every infect 
that is inferior to them in ftrength. But, though warlike and 
rapacious in their general manners, they are polifhed and 
peaceable among themfelves. To their young they difcover 
the greateft tendernefs and affection. For their protection 
and conveniency no labour is fpared ; and the habitations they 
conftruct do honour to their patience, addrefs, and fagacity. 
Their architecture, like that of the honey-bee, is fingular, 
and worthy of admiration ; but the materials employed fur- 
nilh neither honey nor wax. Impelled by an inftinctive love 
of pofterity, they, with great labour, Ikill, and affiduity, con- 
ftruct combs, which are likewife compofed of hexagonal or 
fix-fided cells. Though thefe cells are not made of wax, 
they are equally proper for the rece ption of eggs, and for 
affording convenient habitations to the worms which pro- 
teed from them till their transformation into wafps. 



OF fcATUkAL HISTORY. 353 

Id general, the cells of the wafps are formed of a kind 
Of paper, which with great dexterity, is fabricated by the ani- 
mals themfelves. The number of combs and cells in a wafp's 
neft is always proportioned to the number of individuals aflb* 
ciated. Different fpecies choofe different fituations for build-* 
ing their nefts. Some expofe their habitations to all the in* 
juries of the air ; others prefer the trunks of decayed trees ; 
and others, as the common kind, of which we are principal- 
ly treating, -conceal their nefts under ground. The hole 
which leads to a wafp's neft is about an inch in diameter* 
This hole is a kind of gallery mined by the wafps, is feldonx 
in a ftraight line, and varies in length from half a foot to two 
feet, according to the diftance of the neft from the furface 
of the ground. When expofed to view, the whole neft ap- 
pears to be of a roundifh form, and fometimes about twelve 
or fourteen inches in diameter. It is ftrongly fortified all 
round with walls or layers of paper, the furface of which is 
rough and irregular. In thefe walls, or rather in this exter- 
nal covering, two holes are left for paflages to the combs. 
The wafps uniformly enter the neft by one hole, and go out 
by the other, which prevents any confufion or interrupt 
tion to their common labours. 

We arc now arrived at the gates of this fubterraneous ci- 
ty, which, though fmall, is extremely populous. Upon re- 
moving the external covering, we perceive that the whole in- 
terior part confifts of feveral ftoreys or floors of combs, 
which are parallel to each other, and nearly in a horizontal 
pofition. Every ftorey is compofed of a numerous aflem- 
blage of hexagonal cells, very regularly conftrucled with a 
matter refembling afh-coloured paper. Thefe cells contain 
neither wax nor honey, but are folely deftined for containing 
the eggs, the worms which are hatched from them, the 
nymphs; and the young wafps till they are able to fly. 
Wafps nefts ar» not always compofed of an equal number of 



356 THE PHILOSOPHY 

combs. They fometimes confift of fifteen, and fometimes 
of eleven only. The combs are of various diameters. The 
firft, or uppermoft, is often only two inches in diameter, 
while thofe of the middle fometimes exceed a foot. The 
loweft are alfo much fmaller than the middle ones. All 
thefe combs, like fo many floors or ftoreys ranged parallelly 
above each other, afford lodging to prodigious numbers of 
inhabitants. Reaumur computed, from the number of cells 
in a given portion of comb, that in a medium iized neft, 
there were at leaft 10,000 cells. This calculation gives an 
idea of the aftonifhing prolific powers of thefe infects, and 
of the vaft numbers of individuals produced in a lingle feafon 
from one neft ; for every cell ferves as a lodging to no lefs 
than three generations. Hence a moderately fized neft gives 
birth annually to 30,000 young wafps. 

The different ftoreys of combs are always about half an 
inch high, which leaves free paffages to the wafps from one 
part of the neft to another. Thefe intervals are fo fpacious, 
that, in proportion to the bulk of the animals, they may be 
compared to great halls, or broad ftreets. Each of the larg- 
er combs is fupported by about fifty pillars, which, at the 
fame time, give folidity to the fabric, and greatly ornament 
the whole neft. The leffer combs are fupported by the fame 
ingenious contrivance. Thefe pillars are coarfe, and of a 
roundifh form. Their bafes and capitals, however, are much 
larger in diameter than towards the middle. By the one 
end they are attached to the fuperior comb, and by the oth- 
er to the inferior. Thus between two combs there is al- 
ways a fpecies of ruftic colonade. The wafps begin at the 
top and build downward. The uppermoft and fmalleft comb 
is firft conftrudted. It is attached to the fuperior part of 
the external covering. The fecond comb is fixed to the 
bottom of the firft ; and in this manner the animals proceed 
till the whole operation is completed. The connecting pil- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 357 

lars are compofed of the fame kind of paper as the reft of 
the neft. To allow the wafps entries into the void fpaces, 
roads are left between the combs and the external envelope 
or covering. 

Having given a general idea of this curious edifice, it is 
next natural to inquire how the wafps build, and how they 
employ themfelves in their abodes. But, as all thefe myfte- 
ries are performed under the earth, it required much indus- 
try and attention to difcover them. By the ingenuity and 
perfeverance of M. de Reaumur, however, we are enabled 
to explain fome parts of their internal oeconomy and man- 
ners. This indefatigable naturalift contrived to make wafps, 
like the honey-bees, lodge and work in glafs-hives. In this 
operation he was greatly affifted by the ardent affection 
which thefe animals have to their offspring ; for he found, 
that, though the neft was cut in different directions, and 
though it was expofed to the light, the wafps never deferted 
it, nor relaxed in their attention to their young. When 
placed in a glafs-hive, they are perfectly peaceable, and nev- 
er attack the obferver, if he calmly contemplates their ope- 
rations •, for, naturally, they do not fting, unlefs they are 
irritated. 

Immediately after a wafp's neft has been tranfported from 
its natural fltuation, and covered with a glafs-hive, the firft 
operation of the infects is to repair the injuries it has fuffered. 
With wonderful activity they carry off all the earth and 
foreign bodies that may have accidentally been conveyed in- 
to the hive. Some of them occupy themfelves fixing the 
neft to the top and fides of the hive by pillars of paper fimi- 
lar to thofe which fupport the different ftories or ftrata of 
combs ; others repair the breaches it has fuftained ; and 
others fortify it by augmenting confiderably the thicknefs of 
its external cover. This external envelope is an operation 
peculiar to wafps. Its conftrucTion requires great labour ; 

W w 



358 THE PHILOSOPHY 

for it frequently exceeds an inch and a half in thicknefs, and 
is compofed of a number of ftrata or layers as thin as paper, 
between each of which there is a void fpace. This cover is 
a kind of box for inclofing the combs, and defending them 
from the rain which occasionally penetrates the earth. For 
this purpofe it is admirably adapted. If it were one folid 
mafs, the contact of water would penetrate the whole, and 
reach the combs. But, to prevent this fatal effect, the ani- 
mals leave confiderable vacuities between each vaulted layer, 
which are generally fifteen or fixteen in number. By this 
ingenious piece of architecture, one or two layers may be 
moiftened with water, while the others are not in the leaft 
affected. 

The materials employed by wafps in the construction of 
their nefts are very different from thofe made ufe of by the 
honey-bee. Inftead of collecting the farina of flowers, and 
digefting it into wax, the wafps gnaw with their two fangs, 
which are ftrong and ferrated, fmall fibres of wood from the 
fames of windows, the pofts of efpaliers, garden doors, &c. 
but never attempt growing or green timber. Thefe fibres, 
which, though very {lender, are often a line, or a twelfth part 
of an inch long. After cutting a certain number of them, 
the animals collect them into minute bundles, tranfport them 
to their neft, and, by means of a glutinous fubftance furnimed 
from their own bodies, form them into a moift and ductile 
pafte. Of this fubftance, or papier mache, they conftruct the 
external cover, the partitions of the neft, the hexagonal 
cells, and the folid columns which fupport the feveral layers 
or {lories of combs. 

The constructing of the neft occupies a comparatively 
fmall number of labourers. The others are differently em- 
ployed. Here it is neceffary to remark, that the republics 
of wafps, like thofe of the honey-bees, confift of three kinds 
of flies, males,, females, am.; neuters. Like the bees, alfo, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 359 

the number of neuters far furpafTes thofe of both males and 
females. The greateft quantity of labour is devolved upon 
the neuters ; but they are not, like the neuter bees, the on- 
ly workers ; for there is no part of their different operations 
which the females, at certain times, do not execute. Neither 
do the males, though their induftry is not comparable to that 
of the neuters, remain entirely idle. They often occupy 
themfelves in the interior part of the neft. The greateft 
part o{ the labour, however, is performed by the neuters. 
They build the neft, feed the males, the females, and even 
the young. But, while the neuters are employed in thefe 
different operations, the others are abroad in hunting par- 
ties. Some attack with intrepidity live infects, which they 
fometimes carry entire to the neft ; but they generally 
tranfport the abdomen or belly only. Others pillage butch^ 
ers ftalls, from which they often arrive with a piece of meat 
larger than the half of their own bodies. Others refort to 
gardens, and fuck the juices of fruits. When they return 
to the neft, they diftribute a part of their plunder to the fe- 
males, to the males, and even to fuch neuters as have been 
ufefully occupied at home. As foon as a neuter enters the 
neft, it is furrounded by feveral wafps, to each of whom it 
freely gives a portion of the food it has brought. Thofe 
who have not been hunting for prey, but have been fucking 
the juices of fruits, though they feem to return empty, fail 
not to regale their companions ; for, after their arrival, they 
ftation themfelves upon the upper part of the neft, and dis- 
charge from their mouths two or three drops of a clear li- 
quid, which are immediately, fwal lowed by the domeftics. 

The neuter wafps, though the moft laborious, are the 
fmalleft ; but they are extremely active and vivacious. The 
females are much larger, heavier, and flower in their move- 
ments. The males are of an intermediate fize between that 
ef the females and neuters. From thefe differences in £ze, 



36Q THE PHILOSOPHY 

it is eafy to diftinguilh the different kinds of thofe wafps 
which build their nefts below the ground. In the hive of 
the honey-bee, the number of females is always extremely 
fmall ; but, in-a wafp's neft, there are often more than three 
hundred females. During the months of June, July, and Au- 
guft, they remain conftantly in the neft, and are never feen 
abroad except in the beginning of fpring, and in the months 
of September and October. During the fummer, they are 
totally occupied in laying their eggs and feeding their yoang. 
In this laft operation, they are affifted by the other wafps 5 
for the females alone, though numerous, would be infuffi- 
cient for the laborious talk. A wafp's neft, when complet- 
ed, fometimes confifts of fixteen thoufand cells, each of 
which contains an egg, a worm, or a nymph. The eggs are 
white, tranfparent, of an oblong figure, and differ in fize, 
according to the kind of wafps which are to proceed from 
them. Some of them are no larger than the head of a fmall 
pin. They are fo firmly glued to the bottoms of the cells, 
that it is with difficulty they can be detached without break- 
ing. Eight days after the eggs are depofited in the cells, 
the worms are hatched, and are confiderably larger than the 
eggs which gave birth to them. Thefe worms demand the 
principal cares of the wafps who continue always in the neft. 
They feed them,' as birds feed their young, by giving them, 
from time to time, a mouthful of food. It is aftonifhing 
to fee with what induftry and rapidity a female runs along 
the cells of a comb, and diftributes to each worm a portion 
of nutriment. In proportion to the ages and conditions of 
the worms, they are fed with folid food, fuch as the bellies 
of infects, or with a liquid fubftance difgorged by the moth- 
er. When a worm is fo large as to occupy its whole cell, it 
is then ready to be metamorphofed into a nymph. It then 
refufes all nourilhment, and ceafes to have any connection 
with the wafps in the neft. It fhuts up the mouth of its cell 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 36 \ 

with a fine filken cover, in the fame manner as the filk-worm 
and other caterpillars fpin their cods. This operation is 
completed in three or four hours, and the animal remains in 
the nymph ftate nine or ten days, when, with its teeth, it 
deftroys the external cover of the cell, and comes forth in 
the form of a winged infect, which is either male, female, or 
neuter, according to the nature of the egg from which it was 
hatched. In a fhort time, the wafps newly transformed re- 
ceive the food brought into the neft by the foragers in the 
fields. What is ftili more curious, in the courfe of the firft 
day after their transformation, the young wafps have been 
obferved going to the fields, bringing in provifions, and 
diftributing them to the worms in the cells. A cell is no 
fooner abandoned by a young wafp, than it is cleaned, trim- 
med, and repaired by an old one, and rendered, in every rei-: 
peel:, proper for the reception of another egg. 

As formerly mentioned, wafps of different fexes differ 
greatly in fize. The animals know how to conftruct ceils 
proportioned to the dimenfions of the fiy that is to proceed 
from the egg which the female depofits in them. The neu- 
ters are fix times fmaller than the females, and their cells 
are built nearly in the fame proportion. Ceils are not only 
adapted for the reception of neuters, males, and females, 
but it is remarkable that the cells of the neuters are never- 
intermixed with thofe of the males or females. A comb is 
entirely occupied with fmall cells fitted for the reception of" 
neuter worms. But male and female cells are often found 
in the fame comb. The males and females are of equal 
length, and, of courfe, require cells of an equal deepnefs-. 
But the cells of the males are narrower than thofe of the fe- 
males, becaufe the bodies of the former are never fo thick 
as thofe of the latter. 

This wonderful afTemblage of combs, of the pillars which 
fupport them, and of the external envelope, is an edifice 



362 THE PHILOSOPHY 

which requires feveral months labour, and ferves the animals 
one year only. This habitation, fo populous in fummer, is 
almoft deferted in winter, and abandoned entirely in fpring ; 
for, in this laft feafon, not a iingle wafp is to be found in a 
neft of the preceding year. It is worthy of remark, that tho 
firft combs of a neft are always accommodated for the recep- 
tion of the neuter or working wafps. The city, of which 
the foundation has juft been laid, requires a number of work- 
men. The neuter or working wafps are accordingly firft 
produced. A cell is no fooner half completed than an egg 
of a neuter is depofited in it by the female. Of fourteen or 
fifteen combs inclofed in a common cover, the four laft only 
are deftined for the reception of males and females. Hence 
it uniformly happens, that, before the males and females are 
capable of taking flight, every wafp's neft is peopled with fev- 
eral thoufand neuters or workers. But the neuters, who 
are firft produced, are likewife the firft that perifh ; for not 
one of them furvives the termination even of a mild winter. 
It was remarked by the ancient naturalifts, that fome wafps 
lived one year only, and others two. To the former Arif- 
totle gives the appellation of operarii, which are our workers 
or neuters, and to the latter matrices, which are our females. 
The female wafps are ftronger, and fupport the rigours of 
winter better than the males or neuters. Before the end of 
winter, however, feveral hundred females die, and not above 
ten or a dozen in each neft furvive that feafon. Thefe few 
females are deftined for the continuation of the fpecies. 
Each of them bucomes the founder of a new republic. When 
a queen-bee departs from a hive in order to eftablim a new 
one, fhe is always accompanied with feveral thoufand 
induftrious labourers, ready to perforin every necefTary 
operation. But the female wafp has not the aid of a fingle 
labourer \ for all thb neuters are dead before the beginning 
of the fpring. The female alone lays the foundation of a 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 56^ 

new republic. She either finds or digs a hole under the 
earth, builds cells for the reception of her eggs, and feeds 
the worms which proceed from them. Whenever any of 
thefe neuter worms are transformed into flies, they immedi- 
ately afiifl their parent in augmenting the number of cells 
and combs, and in feeding the young wormsj which are 
daily hatching from the eggs. In a word, this female wafp, 
which in fpring was perfectly folitary, without any proper 
habitation, and had every operation to perform, has, 
in autumn, feveral thoufands of her offspring at her devo- 
tion, and is furnifhed with a magnificient palace, or rather 
city, to -protect her from the injuries of the weather and from 
external enemies. 

With regard to the male wafps, it is uncertain whether 
any of them furvive the winter. But, though not fo indo- 
lent as the males of the honey-bee, they can be of little affift- 
ance to the female ; for they never engage in any work of 
importance, fuch as constructing cells, or fortifying the ex* 
ternal cover of the neft. They are never brought forth till 
towards the end of Auguft ; and their fole occupation feems 
to be that of keeping the neft clean : They carry out every 
kind of filth, and the carcaffes of fuch of their companions 
as happen to die. In performing this operation, two of them 
often join, and, as mentioned in another place, when the load 
is too heavy, they cut off the head, and tranfport the dead 
animal at two times. 

In the beginning of fpring, when the female wafp has built 
her fubterraneous habitation, which is foon to be peopled 
with thoufands of flies, fhe has no occafion for the males ; 
becaufe, in the month of September or October, fhe had 
been previoufly impregnated. The males and females are 
produced at the fame time, and they are nearly equal in num- 
ber. Like the male honey-bees, the male wafps are deftitute 
of ftings, but the females and neuters have ftings, the poifon- 



361 THE PHILOSOPHY 

ous liquor of which, when introduced into any part of the 
human body, excites inflammation, and creates a confiderable 
degree of pain. 

The habitations and the oeconomy of the common ant are 
exceedingly curious. But, as they are fo well known, and 
fo obvious to infpection and examination, we fhall not de- 
tain the reader with a defcription of them. To fupply this 
defect, we fliali give fome account of the truly wonderful 
operations of the termites, which are generally called white- 
cuts*, though they belong to a different genus of infects. 
Thefe animals infeft Guinea, and all the tropical regions, 
where, for their depredations of property, they are greatly 
dreaded by the inhabitants ; from which circumftance they 
have received the name of Fatalis or Dejirutlor. 

The following abridged account of the termites, and of the 
wonderful habitations they build, is felected from an excel- 
lent defcription of them in a Letter from Mr. Henry Smeath- 
man, of Clement's Inn, to Sir Jofeph Banks, which was 
publifhed in the Philofophical Tranfactionsf . Though the 
nefts, or rather hills, conftructed by the termites, are men- 
tioned by many travellers, their defcriptions and obferva- 
tions are by no means fo accurate as th'ofe of the ingenious 
Mr. Smeathman. Of thefe infects there are feveral fpecies ; 
but they all refemble each other in form, and in their man- 
ner of living. They differ, however, as much as birds, in 
the ftile of their architecture, and in the felection of the ma- 
terials of which their nefts are compofed. Some build on 
the furface, or partly above and partly below the ground, 
and others on the trunks or branches of lofty trees. 

Before defcribing the nefts or hills, it is neceffary to give 
fome idea of the animals themfelves, and of their general 

* In the windward parts cf Africa, they are denominated bugga, buggs ; in 
the Wifift* [tidies, wood lice, wood ants, or white-ants. They are likewife cal- 
led piercers, eaters, or cutters, becaufe they cut almoft every thing in pieces, 
f Vol. 71. part 1. page 139, 



0-F NATURAL HISTORY. 36$ 

oeconomy and manners. We fhall confine ourfelves to that 
fpecies called termites bellicofi, or fighters becaufe they are larg- 
eft, and beft known on the coaft of Africa. 

The republic of the termites bellieofi, like the other fpecies 
of this genus, confifts of three ranks, or orders of infects : 
1. The working infects, which Mr. Smeathman diftinguifhes 
by the name of labourers » 2. The fighters, or fold'ier j-, which 
perform no kind of labour ; and, 3. The winged, or perfetl 
infetls, which are male and female, and capable of multiply- 
ing the fpecies. Thefe laft Mr. Smeathman calls the nobility 
or gentry ; becaufe they neither labour nor fight. The no« 
bility alone are capable of being raifed to the rank of kings 
and queens. A few weeks after their elevation to this ftate, 
they emigrate, in order to eftablifh new empires. 

In a nefl or hill, the -labourers, or working infects, are al- 
ways mod: numerous : There are at leaft one hundred labour- 
ers to one of the fighting infects or foldiers. When in this 
ftate, they are about a fourth of an inch in length, which is 
rather fmaller than fome of our ants. From their figure, and 
fondnefs for wood, they are very generally known by the 
name of iuocd-lice> 

The fecond order, or foldiers, difFer in figure from that 
of the labourers. The former have been fuppofed to be 
neuters, and the latter males. But, in fact, they are the 
fame infects. They have only undergone a change of form, 
and made a nearer approach to the perfect ftate. They are 
now much larger, being half an inch in length, and equal in 
fize to fifteen of the labourers. The form of the head is 
iikewife greatly changed. In the labourer ftate/ the mouth 
is evidently formed for gnawing or holding bodies : But, in 
the foldier ftate, the jaws being fhaped like two fharp awls 
a little jagged, are deftined folely for piercing or wounding. 
For thefe purpofes they are very well calculated ; for they 
are as hard as a crab's claw, and placed in a ftrong hornr 



%66 THE PHILOSOPHY 

i 



head, which is of a nut-brown colour, and larger than the 
whole body. 

The figure of the third order, or that of the infect in its 
perfect ftate, is ftiil more changed. The head, the thorax, 
and the abdomen, differ almoft entirely from the fame parts' 
in tke labourers and foldiers. Befide, the animals are now 
furnifhed with four large, brownifh, tranfparent wings, by 
which they are enabled, at the proper feafon, to emigrate 
and to eftablifh new fettlements. In the winged or perfect 
ftate, they have likewife acquired the organs of generation, 
and are greatly altered in their fize as Well as in their figure. 
Their bodies now meafure between fix and feven tenths of 
an inch, their wings, from tip to tip> above two inches and a 
half, and their bulk is equal to that of thirty labourers, or 
two foldiers. Inftead of active, induftrious, and rapacious 
little animals, when they arrive at their perfect ftate, they bo- 
come innocent, helplcfs, and daftardly. Their numbers are 
great ; but their enemies are ftill more numerous. They 
are devoured by birds, by every fpecies of ants, by carnivo- 
rous reptiles, and even by the inhabitants of many parts of 
Africa. This laft fact is attefted by Pifo, Margrave, De 
Laet, Konig, Moor, Sparman, and by many other travellers, 
as well as by Smeathman. After fuch devaftation, it is fur- 
prifing that a fingle pair fhould efcape fo many dangers. 

< Some, however/ fays Mr. Smeathman, * are fo fortunate ; 
€ and being found by fome of the labouring infects, that are 
c continually running about the furface of the ground under 

< their covered galleries, are eleBed Kings and Queens of new 
f ftates ; all thofe who are not fo elected and preferved cer- 
*■ tainly perifh. The manner in which thefe labourers pro- 

< tedt the happy pair from their innumerable enemies, not 

* only on the day of the maffacre of almoft all their race, but 
' for a long time after, will, I hope, juftify me in the ufe of 

* the term ekfftoti. The little induftrious creatures imniedi- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 367 

f aiely inclofe them in a fmall chamber of clay fuitable tc5 
* their fize, into which, at firft, they leave but one fmall en- 
trance, large enough for themfelves and the foldiers to go 
■ in and out, but much too little for either of the royal pair 
i to make ufe of ; and, when necefiity obliges them to make 
? more entrances, they are never larger ; fo that, of courfe, 
c the voluntary fubjecls charge themfelves with the ta£k of pro- 

< viding tor the offspring of their fovereigns, as well as to work 

< and to fight for them, until they have raifed a progeny ca- 

< pable at leaft of dividing the talk with them. 

* It is not till this, probably, that they confummate their 
f marriage, as I never faw a pair of them joined. The bufi- 

* nefs of propagation, however, foon commences ; and the 

* labourers having conftructed a fmall wooden nurfery, carry 

< the eggs and lodge them there as faft as they can obtain 
( them from the queen. 

i About this time a moft extraordinary change begins to 
( take place in the queen, to which I know nothing fimilar, 

< except in the pulex penetrans of Linnaeus, the jigger of the 
c Weft-Indies, and in the different fpecies of coccus, cochineal. 
f The abdomen of this female begins gradually to extend 
c and enlarge to fuch an enormous fize, that an old queen will 
? have it insreafed fo as to be fifteen hundred or two ihoufand 
c times the bulk of the reft of her body, and twenty or thirty 
f thoufand times the bulk of a labourer, as I have found by 
( carefully weighing and computing the different ftates. The 
c fkin between the fegments of the abdomen extends in eve- 
( ry direction ; and at laft the fegments are removed to half 
J an inch diftance from each other, though, at firft, the 
6 length of the whole abdomen is not half an inch. I conjec- 
« ture the animal is upwards of two years old when the abdo- 
f. men is increafed to three inches in length : I have fome- 
f times found them of near twice that fize. The abdomen is 
( now of an irregular oblong (hane, being contracted by the 



368 THE PHILOSOPHY 

* mufcles of every fegment, and is become one vaft matrix 

* full of eggs, which make long circumvolutions through an 

< innumerable quantity of very minute vefTels that circulate 

< round the infide in a Terpentine manner, which would exer- 
' cife the ingenuity of a fkilful anatomift to dirTecl and deve- 
€ lope. This Angular matrix is not more remarkable for its 
( amazing extenfion and fize than for its periftaltic motion, 

* which refembles the undulating of waves, and continues in- 

* ceffantly without any apparent effort of the animal ; fo that 
« one part or other, alternately, is rifing and finking in per- 

* petual fuccefllon, and the matrix feems never at reft, but is 
' always protruding eggs to the amount (as I have frequent- 

< ly counted in old queens) of fixty in a minute, or eighty 

< thoufand and upward in one day of twenty-four hours. 

* Thefe eggs are inftantly taken from her body by the at- 
€ tendants, (of whom there always are, in the royal chamber 
« and the galleries adjacent, a fufficient number in waiting), 

< and carried to the nurferies, which, in a great neft, may 

* fome of them be four or five feet diftant in a ftraight line, 

< and, confequently, much farther by their winding galleries. 

< Here, after they are hatched, the young are attended and 

< provided with every thing necefiary until they are able to 
c fhift for themfelves, and take their {hare of the labours of 

* the community.' 

We fliall now endeavour to give fome idea of the almoil: 
incredible architecture and oeconomy of thefe wonderful in- 
leas. 

The nefts of the termites bellicojiy or wood-lice, are called 
hills by the natives of Africa, New Holland, and other hot 
climates. This appellation is highly proper ; for they are 
often elevated ten or twelve feet above the furface of the 
earth, and are nearly of a conical figure. Thefe hills, inftead 
of being rare phenomena, are fo frequent in many places 
near Senegal, that, as defcribed with great propriety by 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 369 

Monf. Adanfon, their number, magnitude, and clofenefs of 
fituation, make them appear like villages of the Negroes. 
i But, of all the extraordinary things I obferved,' fays Monf. 
Adanfon, c nothing (truck me more than certain eminences, 

* which by their height and regularity, made me take them, 
c at a diftance, fpr an aflernblage of Negroe huts, or a con- 

< fiderable village, and yet they were only the nefts of cer-' 
1 tain infects. Thefe nefts are round pyramids, from eight 
4 to ten feet high, upon nearly the fame bafe, with a fmooth 
c furface of rich clay, exceffively hard and well built*.' Job- 
fon, in his hiftory of Gambia, tells us, that c the ant-hills are 
« remarkably caft up in thofe parts by pifmires, fome of 

* them twenty foot in height, of compafTe to contayne a doz- 

< en of men, with the heat of the fun baked into that hard- 
6 nelTe, that we ufed to hide ourfelves in the ragged toppes 

< of them, when we took up ftands to fhoot at deere or wild 
1 beafts f. a Mr.Bofman remarks, in his defcription of Guinea 3 
that « the ants make nefts of the earth about twice the 

< height of a man f .' 

Each of thefe hills is composed of an exterior and an inte- 
rior part. The exterior cover is a large clay-fhell, which is, 
fliaped like a dome. Its ftrength and magnitude are fuffU 
cient to inclofe and protect the interior building from the in- 
juries of the weather, and to defend its numerous inhabitants 
from the attacks of natural or accidental enemies. The ex- 
ternal dome or cover is, therefore, always much ftronger- 
fhan the internal building, which is the habitation of the in- 
fects, and is divided with wonderful artifice and regularity 
into a vaft number of apartments for the refidence and ac- 
commodation of the king and queen, for the nurfing of their 
progeny, and for magazines, which are always well ftored 
with proviiions. 

-v * Adanfon's Voyage to Senegal, 8vo, page 153. — 337. Voyage de Senegal 
4to, page 83.-99. 

i Purcbas's Pilgrims, vol, 2. page 1570, f Page 276,-^-493, 



370 . THE PHlLOSOrilY 

Thefe hills nrfake their firft appearance in the form «f 
conical turrets about a foot high. In a fbort time the infers 
erect, at a little diftance, other turrets, and go on increafmg 
their number and widening their bafes, till their underworks 
are covered with thefe turrets, which the animals always 
raife higheft in the middle of the hill, and, by filling up the 
intervals between each turret, collect them, at laft, into one 
great dome. 

« The royal chamber? Mr. Smeathman remarks, < which is 
f occupied by the king and queen, appears to be, in the opin- 
f ion of this little people, of the mod confequence, and is al- 

* ways fituated as near the centre of the interior bnilding as 

* poffible, and generally about the height of the common fur- 
f face of the ground. It is always nearly in the fhape of half 
c an egg, or an obtufe oval, within, and may be fuppofed to 
f reprefent a long oven. In the infant flate of the colony, it 
c is not above an inch, or thereabout, in length ; but in time 
? will be increafed to fix. or eight inches, or more, in the clear, 
« being always in proportion to the fize of the queen, who, 

* increafing in bulk as in age, at length requires a chamber 
f of fuch dimenfions.' 

The entrances into the royal chamber will not admit any 
animal larger than the foldiers or labourers. Hence the 
]dng and queen, which laft, when full grown, is a thoufand 
times.the weight of a king, can never poflibly go out. The 
royal chamber is furrounded by an innumerable quantity of 
others, which are of different fizes, figures, and dimenfions ; 
but all of them are arched either in a circular or an elliptical 
form. Thefe chambers either open into each other, or have 
communicating paflages, which being always clear, are evi- 
dently intended for the conveniency of the foldiers and atten- 
dants, of whom, as will foon appear, great numbers are necef- 
fary. Thefe apartments are joined by the magazines and 
nurferies. The magazines are chambers of clay, and are at 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 371 

ill times well ftored with provifions, which, to the naked eye, 
feem to confift of the rafpings of wood and plants which the 
termites deftroy ; but, when examined by the microfcope, 
they are found to confift chiefly of the gums or infphTated 
juices of plants, thrown together in fmall irregular mafies. 
Of thefe mafles, fome are finer than others, and refemble the 
fugar about preferred fruits \ others refemble the tears of 
gum, one being quite tranfparent, another like amber, a third 
brown, and a fourth perfectly opaque. 

The magazines are always intermixed with the nurferies, 
which laft are buildings totally different from the reft of the 
apartments. They are compofed entirely of wooden mate- 
rials, which feem to be cemented with gums. Mr. Smeath- 
man very properly gives them the appellation of nurferies \ 
becaufe they are invariably occupied by the eggs, and the 
young ones, which firft appear in the fhape of labourers ; 
but they are as white as fnow. Thefe buildings are exceed- 
ingly compact, and are divided into a number of fmall irre- 
gular-fhaped chambers, not one of which is half an inch 
wide. They are placed all round, and as near as pofiible to 
the royal apartments. When a neft or hillock is in the in- 
fant ftate, the nurferies are clofe to the royal apartment. 
But as, in procefs of time, the body of the queen enlarges, it 
becomes neceffary, for her accommodation, to augment the 
dimenfions of her chamber. She then, likewife, lays a great- 
er number of eggs, and requires more attendants ; of courfe, 
it is necefiary that both the number and dimenfions of the 
adjacent apartments fhould be augmented. For this pur- 
pofe, the fmall firft built nurferies are taken to pieces, re- 
built a little farther off, made a fize larger, and their num- 
ber, at the fame time, is increafed. Thus the animals are 
continually employed in pulling down, repairing, or rebuild- 
ing their apartments ; and thefe operations they perfo 
with wonderful fagacity, regularity, and forefight. 



$72 . THE PHILOSOPHY 

One remarkable circumftance regarding the nurferies muft 
not be omitted. They are always flightly overgrown with a 
kind of mouldy and plentifully fprinkled with white globules 
about the fize of a fmall pin's head. Thefe globules, Mr. 
Smeathman at firft conjectured to be the eggs ; but, when 
examined by the microfcope, they evidently appeared to be 
a fpecies of mufhroom, in fhape refembling our eatable mufli- 
room when young. When entire, they are white Kke fnow 
a little melted and frozen again ; and, when bruifed, they 
feem to be compofed of an infinite number of pellucid parti- 
cles, approaching to oval forms, and are with difficulty fepa- 
rated from each other. The mouldinefs feems likewife to 
confift of the fame kind of fubftance*. 

The nurferies are enclofed in chambers of clay, like thofe 
which contain the provifions ; but they are much larger. In 
the early ftate of the neft, they are not bigger than an hazel 
nut , but, in great hills, they are often as large as a child's 
head of a year old. 

The royal chamber is fituated nearly on a level with the 
furface of the ground, at an equal diftance from all the fides 
of the building, and directly under the apex of the hill. On 
all fides, both above and below, it is furrounded by what are 
called the royal apartments, which contain only labourers and 
foldiers, who can be intended for no other purpofe than to 
continue in the nefl: either to guard or ferve their common 
father and mother, on whofe fafety the happinefs, and, in the 
eftimation of the Negroes, the exiftence of the whole com- 
munity depends. Thefe apartments compofe an intricate 

* Mr Konig, who examined the termites nefts in the Eaft-Indies, conjectures, 
that thefe rhufhrooms are the food of the young infects. This fuppofition 
implies, that the old ones have a method of providing for and promoting the 
growth of the mufhroom ; c a circumfl:ance,' Mr, Smeathman remarks, 'which, 
'however ftrange to thofe unacquainted with the fagacity of thofe infects, I 
' will venture to fay, from many other extraordinary facts I have feen of them, 
« is not very improbable.' 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 378 

labyrinth, which extends a foot or more in diameter from 
the royal chamber on every fide. Here the nurferies and 
magazines of provifions begin ; and, being feparated by fmall 
empty chambers and galleries, which furround them, and 
communicate with each other, are continued on all fides to 
the outward fhell, and reach up within it two thirds or three- 
fourths of its height, leaving an open area in the middle 
tinder the dome, which refembles the nave of an old cathe- 
dral. This area is furrounded by large Gothic arches, which 
are fometimes two or three feet high next the front of the 
area, but diminim rapidly as they recede, like the arches of 
aifles in perfpectives, and are foon loft among the innumera- 
ble chambers and nurferies behind them. All thefe cham- 
bers and pafTages are arched, and contribute mutually to fup- 
port one another. The interiour building, or afTemblage of 
nurferies, chambers, and pafTages, has a flattifh roof without 
any perforation. By this contrivance, if, by accident, water 
fhould penetrate the external dome, the apartments below 
are preferved from injury. The area has alfo a flattifh floor, 
which is fituated above the royal chamber. It is likewife 
water proof, and fo conftrucled, that, if water gets admit- 
tance, it runs off by fubterraneous pafTages, which are of an 
aftonifhing magnitude. c I meafured one of them/ fays Mr. 
Smeathman, « which was perfectly cylindrical, and thirteen 
« inches in diameter/ Thefe fubterraneous pafTages are thick- 
ly lined with the fame kind of clay of which the hill is com* 
pofed, afcend the internal part of the external fhell in a fpi- 
ral form, and, winding round the whole building up to the 
top, interfect and communicate with each other at different 
heights. From every part of thefe large galleries a number 
of pipes, or fmaller galleries, leading to different apartments 
of the building, proceed. There are likewife a great many 
which lead downward,, by floping defcents, three and four 

feet perpendicular under ground, among the gravel, from 

Y Y 



#74 THE PHlLOSOPKf 

^vhich the labouring termites felect the finer parts, which, 
after being worked up in their mouths to the confidence of 
mortar, become that folid clay or ftone of which their hills, 
and every apartment of their buildings, except the nurferies, 
are compcfed. Other galleries afcend and lead out horizon- 
tally on every fide* and are carried under ground, but near 
the furface, to great diftances. Suppofe the whole nefts with- 
in a hundred yards of a houfe were completely deftroyed, the 
inhabitants of thofe at a greater diftance will carry on their 
fubterraneous galleries, and invade the goods and merchan- 
dizes contained in it by fap and mine, unlefs great attention 
and circumfpection are employed by the proprietor. 

Mr. Smeathman concludes his defcription of the habita- 
tions of the termites btllicofi^ with much modefty, in the fol- 
lowing words : * Thus 1 have defcribed, as briefly as the fub- 
« ject would admit, and I truft without exaggeration, thofe 

* wonderful buiklings, whb-fe fize, and external form, have 

* often been mentioned by travellers, but whofe interior, and 
« mod curious parts are fo little known, that I may venture 
c to confider my account of them as new, which is the only 
« merit it has ; for they are conftructed upon fo different a 

* plan from any thing elfe upon the earth, and fo complicat- 
« ed, that I- cannot find words equal to the talk/ 

When a breach is made in one of the hHls by an ax, or 
other inftrument, the firft object that attracts attention is the 
behaviour of the foldiers, or fighting infects. Immediately 
after the blow is given, a foldrer comes out, walks about the 
breach, and feems to examine the nature of the enemy, or 
the caufe of the attack. He then goes in to the hill, gives 
the alarm, and, in a fhort time, large bodies rufh out as fail 
as the breach will permit. It is not eafy to defcribe the fury 
thefe fighting infects difcover. In their eagernefs to repel 
the enemy, they frequently tumble down the fides of the 
hill,, but recover themfelves very quickly, and bite every thing 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 375 

they encounter. This biting, joined to the ftriking of their 
forceps upon the building, makes a crackling or vibrating 
noife, which, is fomewhat fhriller and quicker than the tick- 
ing of a watch, and may be heard at the diftance of three 
or four feet. While the attack proceeds, they are in the 
mod violent buftle and agitation. If they get hold of any 
part of a man's body, they inftantly make a wound, which 
difcharges as much blood as is equal to their own weight. 
When they attack the leg, the {tain of blood upon the flock- 
ing extends more than an inch in width. They make their 
hooked jaws meet at the firft ftroke, and never quit their 
hold, but fuffer themfelves to be pulled away leg by leg, and 
piece after piece, without the fmalleft attempt to efcape. On 
the other hand, if a perfon keeps out of their reach, and 
gives them no farther difturbance, in lefs than half an hour 
they retire into their neft, as if they fuppofed the wonderful 
monfter that damaged their caftle had fled. Before the 
whole foldiers have got in, the labouring infecls are all in 
motion, and haften toward the breach, each of them having 
a quantity of tempered mortar in his mouth. This mortar 
they itick upon the breach as faft as they arrive, and perform 
the operation with fo much difpatch and facility, that, not- 
withstanding the immenlity of their numbers, they never 
flop or embarrafs one another. During this fcene of appar- 
ent hurry and confufion, the Spectator is agreeably furprifed 
when he perceives a regular wall gradually arifing and filling 
up the chafm. While the labourers are thus employed, al- 
moil all the foldiers remain within, except here and there 
one, who faunters about among fix hundred or a thoufand 
labourers, but never touches the mortar. One foldier, how- 
ever, always takes his flation clofe to the wall that the labour-; 
ers are building. This foldier turns himfelf leifurely on all 
fides, and, at intervals of a minute or two, raifes his head, 
beats upon the building with his forceps, and makes the vi- 



376 THE PHILOSOPHY 

brating nolfe formerly mentioned. A loud hifs inftantly 
ifiues from the infide of the dome and all the fubterraneous 
caverns and paflages. That this hifs proceeds from the la- 
bourers is apparent ; for, at every figrial of this kind, they 
work with redoubled quicknels and alacrity. A renewal of 
the attack, however, inftantly changes the fcene. * On the 
€ jfirft ftroke,' Mr. Smeathman remarks, « the labourers run 
? into the many pipes and galleries with which the building 
€ is perforated, which they do fo quickly, that they feem to 
f vanifh ; for in a few feconds all are gone, and the foldiers 
f rufh out as numerous and as vindictive as before. On find- 
« ing no enemy, they return again leifurely into the hill, and 

* very foon after, the labourers appear loaded as at firft, as 

* active, and as fedulous, with foldiers here and there among 
e them, who act jull in the fame manner, one or other of 

* them giving the fignal to haften the buflnefs. Thus the 
f pleafure of feeing them come out to fight or to work, alter- 
« nately, may be obtained as often as curiolity excites, or 

* time permits ; and it will certainly be found, that the one 

< order never attempts to fight, or the other to work, let the 

* emergency be ever fo great.' 

It is exceedingly difficult to explore the interior parts of 
a neft or hill. The apartments which furround the royal 
chamber and the nurferies, and indeed the whole fabrick, 
have luch a dependence on each other, that the breaking of 
one arch generally pulls down two or three. There is anoth- 
er great obftacle to our refearches, namely, the ubftinacy of 
the foldiers, who, fays our author, ' fight to the very laft, 

< difputing every inch of ground fo well as often to drive 
1 away the Negroes who are without fhoes, and make white 

* people bleed plentifully through their ftockings. Neither 

* can we let a building ftand fo as to get a view of the interior 
i parts without interruption ; for, while the foldiers are de- 
\ fending the out- works, the labourers keep barricading all 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 377 

5 the way againft us, flopping up the different galleries and 
« paffages which lead to the various apartments, particularly 
f the royal chamber, all the entrances to which they fill up 
c fo artfully as not to let it be diftinguifhable while it remains 
f moift ; and, externally, it has no other appearance than 

< that of a (hapelefs lump of clay. It is, however, eafiiy 
c found from its fituation with refpect to the other parts of 

* the building, and by the crowds of labourers and foldiers 
c which furround it, who fhew their loyalty and fidelity by 
c dying under its walls. The royal chamber, in a large neft, 
4 is capacious enough to hold many hundreds of the atten- 

< dants, befides the royal pair ; and you always find it full of 
« them as it can hold. Thefe faithful fubje&s never abandon 
I their charge even in the laft diftrefs ; for, whenever I took 

6 out the royal chamber, and, as I often did, preferved it for. 
f fome time in a large glafs bowl, all the attendants continued 

< running in one direction round the king and queen with 
« the utmoft folicitude, fome of them flopping at the head of 
c the latter, as if to give her fomething. When they came 
6 to the extremity of the abdomen, they took the eggs from 

* her, and carried them away, and piled them carefully toge- 

* ther in fome part of the chamber, or in the bowl under, or 

< behind any pieces of broken chy which lay moft conveni- 

< ent for the purpofe.' 

In this chapter, I have given a fuccincl view of the fagaci- 
ty, dexterity, and architectonic powers, exhibited in the con- 
ftruction of habitations by the different claffes of animals. 
But I am not without apprehenfions, that, in my endeavours 
to avoid prolixity, I may have, in fome inftances, degenerat- 
ed into obfcurity. Enough, however, I hope, has been faid, 
either for the purpofes of admiration or of reafoning ; and, 
therefore, I fhall not anticipate the reflections of my readers a 
but proceed to the next fubject. 



£78 THE PHILOSOPHY 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Of the Hojlilities of Animals, 

IN contemplating the fyftem of animation exhib- 
ited in this planet, the only one of which we have any ex- 
tenfive knowledge, the mind is ftruck, and even confound- 
ed, with the general fcene of havock and devaftation which 
is perpetually, and every where, prefented to our view. 
There is not, perhaps, a fingle fpecies of animated beings, 
whofe exiftence depends not, more or lefs, upon the death 
and deftruction of others. Every animal, when not prema- 
turely deprived of life by thofe who are hoftile to it, or by 
accident, enjoys a temporary exiftence, the duration of which 
is longer or fhorter according to its nature, and the rank it 
holds in the creation ; and this exiftence univerfally termi- 
nates in death and diffolution. This is an eftabliftied law of 
feature, to which every animal is obliged to fubmit. But 
this neceffary and univerfal 'eprivation of individual life, 
though great, is nothing when compared to the havock occafi- 
gned by another law, which impels animals to kill and devour 
different fpecies, and fometimes their own. In the fyftem 
of Nature, death and diffolution feem to be indifpenfible for 
the fupport and continuation of animal life. 

But, though almoft every animal, in fome meafure, der 
pends for its exiftence on the deftru&ion of others, there are 
fome fpecies in all the different tribes or claffes, which are 
diftinguifhed by the appellation of carnivorous or rapacious, 
becaufe they live chiefly, or entirely, on animal food. In 
the profecution of this fubject, therefore, we (hall in xhejitjl 
place, mention fome examples of animal hoftility and rapac- 
ity 5 and, in the next place, endeavour to point out fuch ad- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 37§ 

f sntages as refult from this apparently cruel institution of 
Nature. On the laft branch of the fubject, however, the 
reader mud not expect to have every difficulty removed, and 
every queftion folved. Like all the other parts of the oecon- 
omy of Nature, the neceffity, or even the Seeming cruelty 
and injuftice, of allowing animals to prey upon one another, 
is a myftery which we can never be enabled completely to 
unravel. But we are not entirely without hopes df Showing 
feveral important utilities which refult from this almoft uni- 
verfal fcene of animal devastation. 

Of all rapacious animals, Man is the moft univerfal de- 
stroyer. The destruction of carnivorous quadrupeds, birds, 
and infects, is, in general, limited to particular kinds. But 
the rapacity of man has hardly any limitation. His empire 
over the other animals which inhabit this globe is almoft 
univerfal. He accordingly employs his power, and fubdues 
or devours every fpecies. Of fome of the quadruped tribes, 
as the horfe, the dog, the cat, he makes domeftic Slaves ; 
and, though in this country, none of thefe fpecies is ufed 
for food, he either obliges them to labour for him, or keeps 
them as fources of pleafure and amufement. From other 
quadrupeds, as the ox, the fheep, the goat, and the deer 
kind, he derives innumerable advantages. The ox-kind, in 
particular, after receiving the emoluments of their labour and 
fertility, he rewards with death, and then feeds upon their 
carcafTes. Many other fpecies, though not commonly ufed 
as food, are daily maiTacred in millions for the purpofes of 
commerce, luxury, and caprice. Myriads of quadrupeds are 
annually deftroyed for the fake of their furs, their hides, 
their tufks, their odoriferous fecretions, &c. 

Over the feathered tribes the dominion of man is not lefs 
extenSive. There is not a fingle fpecies in the" numerous 
and diverfified clafs of birds, which he either does not, or 
may not, employ for the nourishment of his body. By his 



580 THE PHILOSOPHY 

fagacity and addrefs he has been enabled to domefticate ma- 
ny of the more prolific and delicious fpecies, as turkies, geefe, 
and the various kinds of poultry. Thefe he multiplies with- 
out end, and devours at pleafure. 

Neither do the inhabitants of the waters efcape the rapaci- 
ty of man. Rivers, lakes, and even the ocean itfelf, feel the 
power of his empire, and are forced to fupply him with pro- 
viiions. Neither air nor water can defend againft the inge- 
nuity, the art, and the deftructive induftry of the human 
fpecies. Man may be faid even to have domefticated fome 
fifties. In artificial ponds, he feeds and rears carp, tench, 
perch, trout, and other fpecies, and with them occafionally 
furniflies his table. 

It might have been expected, that infects and reptiles, 
fome of which have a moft difgufting afpect, would not have 
excited the human appetite. But we learn from experi- 
ence, that, in every region of the earth, many infects which 
inhabit both the earth and the waters, are efteemed as deli- 
cate articles of luxury. Even the viper, though its venom 
be deleterious, efcapes not the all-devouring jaws of man. 

Thus man holds, and too often exercifes, a tyrannical do- 
minion over almoft the whole brute creation, not becaufe he 
is the ftrongeft of all animals, but becaufe his intellect:, though 
of a fimilar nature, is vaftly fuperior to that of the moft faga- 
cious of the lefs favoured tribes. He reigns over the other 
animals, becaufe, like them, he is not only endowed with fen- 
timent, but becaufe the powers of his mind are more exten- 
sive. He overcomes force by ingenuity, and fwiftnefs by art 
and perfevering induftry. But the empire of man over the 
brute creation is not abfolute. Some fpecies elude his pow- 
er by the rapidity of their flight, by the fwiftnefs of their 
courfe, by the obfcurity of their retreats, and by the element 
in which they live. Others efcape him by the minutenefs of 
their bodies ; and, inftead of acknowledging their fovereign, 



Of NATURAL HISTORY. 381 

others boldly attack him with open hoftility. He is alfo 
infulted and injured by the flings of infects, and by the poif- 
onous bites of ferpents. In other refpecls, man's empire, 
though comparatively great, is very much limited. He has 
no influence on the univerfe, on the motions and affec- 
tions of the heavenly bodies, or on the revolutions of the 
globe which he inhabits. Neither has he a general domin- 
ion over animals, vegetables, or minerals. His power reach- 
es not fpecies, but is confined to individuals. Every order 
of being moves on its courfe, perifhes, or is renewed, by the 
irrefifrible power of Nature. Even man himfelf, hurried 
along by the general torrent of time and of Nature, cannot 
prolong his exiftence. He is obliged to fubmit to the uni- 
verfal law ; and, like all other organized beings, he is born, 
grows to maturity and dies. Though man has been enabled 
to fubdue the animal creation by the fuperior powers of his 
mind, his empire, like all other empires, could not be firmly 
eftablifhed previous to the inftitution of pretty numerous fo- 
cieties. Almoft the whole of his power is derived from fo- 
ciety. It matures his reafon, gives exertion to his genius, 
and unites his forces. Before the formation of large focie- 
ties, man was perhaps the moft helplefs and the leaft formi- 
dable of all animals. Naked, and deftitute of arms, to him 
the earth was only an immenfe defert peopled with flrong 
and rapacious monflers, by whom he was often devoured. 
Even long after this period, hiftory informs us, that the firft 
heroes were deftroyers of wild beafts. But, after the human 
fpecies had multiplied, and fpread over the earth, and when, 
by means of fociety and the arts, man was enabled to con- 
quer a confiderable part of the globe, he forced the wild 
beafts gradually to retire to the deferts. He cleared the 
earth of thofe gigantic animals who, perhaps, now no longer 
exift, but whole enormous bones are ftiil found in different 

regions, and are preferved in the cabinets of the curious. He 

Z z 



382 THE PHILOSOPHY 

reduced the numbers of voracious and noxious fpecies. He 
oppofed the powers and the dexterity of one animal to thofe 
of another. Some he fubdued by addrefs, and others by 
force. In this manner he, in procefs of time, acquired to 
himfelf perfect fecurity, and eftabliihed an empire that has 
no other limits than inacceffible folitudes, burning fands, 
frozen mountains, or obfcure caverns, which are occupied 
as retreats by a few fpecies of ferocious animals. 

Next to man, the carnivorous quadrupeds are the iroft nu- 
merous and the moft deftructive. Different parts of the 
earth are infefted with lions, tigers, panthers, ounces, leop- 
ards, jaguars, cougars, lynxes, wild cats, dogs, jackals, wolves, 
foxes, hyaenas, civets, genets, polecats, martins, ferrets, er- 
mines, gluttons, bats, &c. Though all thefe, and many other 
tribes of quadrupeds, live folely upon blood and carnage, 
yet fome of them, as the tiger, the wolf, the hyaena, and 
many other inferior fpecies, are much more rapacious and 
deftructive than others. The lion, though furrounded with 
prey, kills no more than he is able to confume. But the tiger 
is grofsly ferocious, and cruel without neceffity. Though 
fatiated with carnage, he perpetually thirfts for blood. His 
reftlefs fury has no intervals, except, when he is obliged to 
lie in ambufh for prey at the fides of lakes or rivers, to which 
other animals refort for drink. He feizes and tears in pieces 
a freih animal with equal rage as he exerted in devouring 
the firft. He defolates every country that he inhabits, and 
dreads neither the afpect nor the arms of man. He facrific- 
es whole flocks of domeftic animals, and all the wild beafts 
which come within the reach of his terrible claws. He at- 
tacks the young of the elephant and rhinoceros, and fome- 
times even ventures to brave the lion. His predominant in- 
ftinct is a perpetual rage, a blind and undiflinguifhing fero- 
city, which often impel him to devour his own young, and 
to tear their mother in pieces when fhe attempts to defend 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 353 

them. He delights in blood, and gluts himfelf with it till 
lie is intoxicated. He tears the body for no other purpofe 
than to plunge his head into it, and to drink large draughts 
of blood, the fources of which are generally exhaufted before 
his thirft is appeafed. The tiger is perhaps the only animal 
whofe ferocity is unconquerable. Neither violence, reftraint, 
nor bribery, have any effect in foftening his temper. With 
harfli or gentle treatment he is equally irritated. The mild 
and conciliating influence of fociety makes no impreffion en 
the obduracy and incomigiblenefs of his difpofition. Time, 
inftead of foftening the ferocioufnefs of his nature, only exaf- 
perates his rage. He tears, with equal wrath, the hand 
which feeds him, as that which is raifed to ftrike him. He 
roars and grins at the fight of every living being. Every 
animated object he regards as a frelh prey, which he devours 
before hand with the avidity of his eyes, menaces it with 
frightful groans, and often fprings at it without regarding 
his chains, which only reftrain, but cannot calm his fury. 

In temperate climates, the wolf feems to exceed all other 
animals in the ferocity and rapacioufnefs of his difpofition. 
When preffed with hunger, he braves every danger. He 
attacks all thofe animals which are under the protection of 
man, efpecially fuch as he can carry off with eafe, as lambs, 
kids, and the fmaller kinds of dogs. When fuccefsful in 
his expeditions, he returns often to the charge, till, after be- 
ing chafed and wounded by men and dogs, he retires, dur- 
ing the day to his den. In the night he again iffues forth, 
traverfes the country, roams round the cottages, kills all the 
animals which have been left without, digs the earth uuder 
the doors, enters with a terrible ferocity, and puts every liv- 
ing creature to death, before he choofes to depart, and carry 
off his prey. When thefe inroads happen to be fruitlefs, he 
returns to the woods, fearches about with avidity, follows 
the track and the fcent of wild beads, and purfues them till 



38-4 THE PHILOSOPHY 

they fall a prey to his rapacity. In a word, when his hunger 
is extreme, he lofes all idea of fear, attacks women and chil- 
dren, and fometimes men ; at laft he becomes perfectly furi- 
ous by exceffive exertions, and generally falls a facrifice to 
pure rage and diffraction. When feveral wolves appear to- 
gether, it is not an afTociation of peace, but of war. It is at- 
tended with tumult and dreadful growlings, and indicates an 
attack upon fome of the larger animals, as a flag, an ox, or 
a formidable maftive. This depredatory expedition is no 
fooner ended than they feparate, a»d every individual re- 
turns in filence to his folitude. Wolves are fond of human 
flefh. They have been known to follow armies, to come in 
troops to the field of battle, where bodies are carelefsly inter- 
red, to tear them up, and to devour them with an infatiable 
avidity : And, when once accuftomed to human flefh, thefe 
wolves ever after attack men, prefer the fhepherd to the 
flock, devour women, and carry off children. Whole coun- 
tries are fometimes obliged to arm, in order to deflroy the 
wolves. It is a fortunate circumftance that thefe dangerous 
and deftruclive animals have been long totally extirpated 
from Great Britain and her iflands. 

Neither are the feathered tribes exempted from the general 
law of devaftation. But the number of birds of prey, pro- 
perly fo called, is much lefs in proportion than that of carni- 
vorous quadrupeds. Birds of prey are likewife weaker ; and, 
of courfe, the deftruclion of animal life they occaiion is much 
more limited than the immenfe devaftations daily commit- 
ted by rapacious quadrupeds. But, as if tyranny never loft 
light of its rights, great numbers of birds make prodigious 
depredations upon the inhabitants of the waters. A vafl 
tribe of birds frequent the waters, and live folely upon fifties. 
In a certain fenfe, every fpecies of bird may be faid to be a 
bird of prey ; for almoft the whole of them devour flies, 
worms, and other infects, either for food to themfelves or 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 58q 

their young. Birds of prey, like carnivorous quadrupeds } 
are not fo prolific as the milder and more inoffenfive kinds. 
Moft of them lay only a fmall number of eggs. The great 
eagle and the ofprey produce only two eggs in a feafon. The 
pigeon, it may be faid, lays no more. But it fhould be con- 
iidered that the pigeon produces two eggs three, four, or five 
times, from fpring to autumn. All birds of prey exhibit an 
obduracy and a ferocioufnefs of difpofition, while the other 
kinds are mild, chearful, and gentle, in their afpect and man- 
ners. Moft birds of prey expel their offspring from the neft, 
and relinquish them to their fate, before they are fufticiently 
able to provide for themfelves. This cruelty is the effect of 
perfonalwant in the mother. When prey is fcanty, which 
often happens, fhe in a manner ftarves herfelf to fupport her 
young. But, when her hunger becomes excefiive, fhe for- 
gets her parental effection, ftrikes, expels, and fometimes, 
in a paroxyfm of fury produced by want, kills her offspring. 
An averfion to fociety is another effect of this natural and 
acquired obduracy of temper. Birds of prey, as well as car- 
nivorous quadrupeds, never affociate. Like robbers, they 
lead a folitary and wandering life. Mutual attachment unites 
the male and the female ; and, as they are both capable of 
providing for themfelves, and can give mutual affiftance in 
making war againft other animals, they never feparate, even 
after the feafon of love. The fame pair are uniformly found 
in the fame place ; but they never affemble in flocks, nor 
even affociate in families. The larger kinds, as the eagles, 
require a greater quantity of food, and, for that reafon, nev- 
er allow their own offspring, after they have become rivals, 
to approach the places which the parents frequent. But all 
thofe birds, and all thofe quadrupeds, which are nourifhed by 
the productions of the earth, live in families, are fond of 
fociety, and affemble in numerous flocks, without quarrel- 
ling or difturbing one another. 



§86 THE PHILOSOPHY 

Both the earth and the air furnifh examples of rapacious 
animals. In thefe elements, however, the number of carni- 
vorous animals is comparatively fmall. But every inhabi- 
tant of the waters depends for its existence upon rapine and 
deftruction. The life of every fijh from the fmalleft to the 
greateft, is one continued fcene of hoftility, violence and eva- 
fion. Their appetite for food is almoft infatiable. It impels 
them to encounter every danger. They are in continual 
motion ; and the object of all their movements is to devour 
other fifties, or to avoid their own deflruction. Their de- 
fire for food is fo keen and undiftinguifhing, that they gree- 
dily fwallow every thing which has the appearance of ani- 
mation. Thofe that have fmall mouths feed upon worms 
and the fpawn of other fifties ; and thofe whofe mouths are 
larger devour every animal, their own fpecies not excepted, 
that can pafs through their gullet. To avoid deftruclicn, 
the fmaller fry retire to the (hallows, where the larger kinds 
are unable to purfue them. But, in the watery element, no 
fituation is abfoiutely fafe ; for, even in the fhallows, the 
oyfter, the fcallop, and the mufcle, lie in ambufti at the bot- 
tom, with their ftiells open, and, when a fmall fifti conies in- 
to contact with them, they infhntly clofe their fhells upon 
him, and devour at leifure their imprifoned prey. Neither 
is the hunting or purfuit of fifties confined to particular re- 
gions. Shoals of one fpecies follow, with unwearied ardour, 
thofe of another through vaft tracts of the ocean. The cod 
purfues the whiting from the banks of Newfoundland to the 
fouthern coafts of Spain. 

It is a remarkable circumftance in the hiftory of animated 
Nature, that carnivorous birds and quadrupeds are lefs proli- 
fic than the inoffenfive and aflbciating kinds ; but, on the 
contrary, that the, inhabitants of the waters, who are all car- 
nivorous, are endowed with a mo ft aftonifhing fecundity. 
All kinds of fifties, a few only excepted, are oviparous. Net- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 5Sl 

withflanding the amazing deflrudtion of their eggs by the 
fmaller fry that frequent the fhores, by aquatic birds, and 
by the larger fifhes, the numbers which efcape are fufficient 
to fupply the ocean with inhabitants, and to afford nourifh- 
ment to a very great portion of the human race. A cod, 
for inftance, according to the accurate computation of Lew- 
enhoeck, produces, from one roe, above nine millions of eggs 
in a llngle feafon. The flounder lays annually above one 
million, and the mackarel more than five hundred thoufand : 
An increafe fo great, if permitted to arrive at maturity, that 
the ocean itfelf, in a few centuries, would not be fpacious 
enough to contain its animated productions. This wonder- 
ful fertility anfwers two valuable purpofes. In the midfl of 
numberlefs enemies it continues the refpective fpecies, and 
furnifhes to all a proper quantity of nourifhment. 

We have thus feen that man, fome quadrupeds, fome birds, 
and all fifhes, are carnivorous animals. But this fyflem of 
carnage defcends flill lower. Many of the infeEi tribes derive 
their nourifhment from putrid carcaiTes, from the bodies of 
living animals, or from killing and devouring weaker fpecies. 
How many flies are daily facrificed by fpiders, a mod vora- 
cious and a moil numerous tribe of infects ? In return, fpi- 
ders are greedily devoured by flies which are diftinguifhed 
by the name of ichneumons. The number of thefe ichneu- 
mon flies is inconceivable -, and, if it were not for the pro- 
digious havock they make upon caterpillars and other infects, 
the fruits of the earth would be entirely deflroyed. Wafps 
are extremely fond of animal food. They frequent butch- 
ers flails, and beat off the flefli fly, and every other infect 
that reforts thither for the purpofe of depofiting its eggs in 
the meat. Butchers take the advantage of this jealous war- 
fare. They encourage the wafps, and make centinels of 
them, by giving them livers, which they prefer to more 
fibrous flefli, probably becaufe they can cut livers more eafi- 
ly with their teeth. 



388 THE FHILOSOPHY 

The libella, dragon, or lady-fly, J s we ll known by the 
beauty of its colours and the fymmetry of its form. For 
thefe external qualities it has received the appellation of 
lady-fly. Its difpolitions and its mode of life, however, are 
more ferocious and warlike than thole of the Amazones. 
Like birds of prey, they hover about in the air, for the fole 
purpofe of devouring almoft every fpecies of winged infect. 
They accordingly frequent marfhy grounds, pools of water, 
and the margins of rivers, where infects moft abound. 
Their appetite is fo grofs and voracious, that they not only 
devour finall flies, but even the large flefh-fly, moths, and 
butterflies, of every kind. 

It has been often faid, that no animal fpontaneoufly feeds 
upon its own fpecies. This remark has probably been in- 
tended as an apology for, or at leaft a limitation to, the gen- 
eral fyftem of carnage eftablifhed by Nature. But the ob- 
fervation, whatever might have been its intention, is unhap- 
pily a refult of ignorance ; for fome quadrupeds, all fifties, 
and many infects, make no fuch difcrimination. The weak- 
er are uniformly preyed upon by the ftronger. Reaumur 
put twenty of thofe caterpillars which feed upon the leaves 
of the oak into a vial. Though he regularly fupplied them 
with plenty of frefli oak leaves, he obferved that the number 
of dead ones daily increafed. Upon a more attentive exam- 
ination into the caufe of this mortality, he found, that the 
ftronger attacked with their teeth, killed, fucked out the 
vitals of their weaker companions, and left nothing but the 
head, feet, and empty Ikins. In a few days, one only of the 
twenty remained in life. 

Caterpillars have myriads of external enemies, as birds of 
almoft every kind, many of the fmallar quadrupeds, their 
own fpecies, and numberlefs infects. But this vaft fource 
of devaftation is ftill augmented by what may be denominat- 
ed their internal enemies. Many flies depofit their eggs in 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 389 

the bodies of caterpillars. From thefe eggs proceed fmall mag- 
gots, which gradually devour the vitals of the animal in which 
they reflde. When about to be transformed into chryfalids, 
they pierce the fkin of the caterpillar, fpin their pods, and 
remain on the empty fkin till they afTume the form of flies, 
and efcape into the air to perform the fame cruel office to 
another unfortunate reptile. Every perfon muft recollect to 
have feen the colewort or cabbage caterpillar ftuck upon old 
walls, or the windows of country cottages, totally covered 
with thefe chryfalids, which have the form of fmall maggots, 
and are of a fine yellow colour. One of the moft formi= 
dable enemies of the caterpillar is a black worm, with fix 
cruftaceous legs. It is as long, and thicker than an ordina- 
nary fized caterpillar. In the fore part of the head it has 
two curved pincers, with which it quickly pierces the belly 
of a caterpillar, and never quits the prey till it is entirely de- 
voured. The largeft caterpillar is not fufficient to nourifh 
this worm for a fingle day j for it daily kills and eats fever- 
al of them. Thefe gluttonous worms, when gorged with 
food, become inactive, and almoft motionlefs. When in this 
fatiated condition, young worms of the fame fpecies attack 
and devour them. Of all trees, the oak, perhaps, nourifhes 
the greateft number of different caterpillars, as well as of dif- 
ferent infects. Amongft others, the oak is inhabited by a 
large and beautiful beetle. This beetle frequents the oak, 
probably becaufe that tree is inhabited by the greateft num- 
ber of caterpillars. It marches from branch to branch, and, 
when difpofed for food, attacks and devours the firft cater- 
pillar that comes in its way. 

The pucerons, vine-fretters, or plant-lice, are very injuri- 
ous to trees and vegetables of almoft every kind. Their 
fpecies are fo numerous, and all of them are endowed with 
fuch a wonderful fertility, that we fhould expect to fee the 
leaves, the branches, and the ftems of every plant totally cov- 
A a a 



#9tf THE PHILOSOPHY 

ered with them. But this aftonifhing fecundity, and the de-< 
vaftation thefe fmall infects would unavoidably produce 
among the vegetable tribes, is checked by numberlefs ene- 
mies. Myriads of infects of different clafTes, of different 
genera, and of different fpecies, feem to be produced for no 
other purpofe but to devour the pucerons. Some of thefe 
infects are fo voracious, that, notwithstanding the extreme 
prolific powers of the pucerons, we have reafon to be fur- 
prifed that their fpecies are not entirely annihilated. On 
every leaf inhabited by the puceron we find worms of differ- 
ent kinds. Thefe worms feed not upon the leaves, but up- 
on the pucerons, whom they devour with an almoft incredi- 
ble rapacity. Some of thefe worms are transformed into 
flies with two wings, others into flies with four wings, and 
others into beetles. White in the worm-ftate, one of thefe 
gluttonous infecls will fuck out the vitals of twenty pucerons 
in a quarter of an hour. Reaumur fupplied a fingle worm 
with more than a hundred pucerons, every one of which it 
devoured in lefs than three hours. 

Befide the general fyftem of carnage produced by the ne- 
ceffity of one animal's feeding upon another, there are 
other fources of deftruction, which originate from very dif- 
ferent motives. Man is not the only animal who wages 
war with his own fpecies. War among mankind, in certain 
accidental fituations of fociety, may be productive, to parti- 
cular nations or communities, of beneficial effects. But eve- 
ry advantage derived by war to one nation is acquired at the 
expence, and either the partial or the total ruin of another. 
If univerfal peace could be completely eftablifhed, and if the 
earth were cultivated to the higheft perfection, it is not pro- 
bable that the multiplication of the human fpecies would ever 
rife to fuch a degree as to exceed the quantity of provifions 
produced by agriculture, and by the breeding of domeftic 
anknalsj neceffary for their exiftence and happinefs. But, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 691 

as long as men are actuated by ambition, by refentment, and. 
by many other hoftile pafiions, war and animofity, with all 
their train of blood-fhed and calamity, will forever continue 
to harrafs and perfecute the human kind. Let us, however, 
be humble. We cannot unfold the myfteries of Nature ; 
but we may admire her operations, and fubmit, with a becom- 
ing refignation, to her irrefiftible decrees. The man, if fuch 
a man there be, whofe ftrength of mind enables him to obr 
ferve fteadfaftly this conduct, is the only real philofopher. 

As formerly remarked, man is not the only animal that 
makes war with his own fpecies. Quadrupeds, birds, fifhes, 
infects, independently of their appetite for food, occasionally 
fight and kill each other. On this fubject we fhall confine 
ourfelves to a few examples derived from the infect tribes. 

A fociety or hive of bees confifts of a female, of males, 
and of drones, or neuters. Thefe three kinds continue, for 
fome time, in the moft perfect harmony, and mutually pro- 
tect and affift each other. The neuters, or working bees, 
difcover the ftrongeft attachment and affection to the males, 
even when in their worm ftate. The neuters are armed 
with a deadly fting, of which the males are deftitute. Both 
are equally produced by the fame mother, and live in the 
fame family. But, notwithstanding their temporary affection, 
there are times when the neuters cruelly maffacre the 
males. Among the laws of polifhed republics, we rind fome 
which are extremely barbarous. The Lacedemonians were 
allowed to kill fuch of their children as were produced in a 
defective or maimed ftate, becaufe they would become a bur- 
den upon the community. The laws of the Chinefe permit 
actions equally inhuman. We perhaps know not all the 
reafons why the neuter bees treat the males with fo much 
cruelty. There is a time, however, when the males become 
perfectly ufelefs to the community ; and it is not incurious 
to remark, that the general maffacre never commences till 



392 THE PHILOSOPHY 

this period arrives. Whenever a ftranger bee enters a hive, 
his temerity is uniformly punifhed with death. But mortal 
combats are not unfrequent between bees belonging to the 
fame hive. Thefe combats are mod frequent in clear and 
warm weather. Sometimes two combatants come out of the 
hive clofely fattened to each other. At other times the at- 
tack is made in the air. But, in whatever way the battle be- 
gins, both combatants uniformly come to the ground before 
it is terminated by the death of one of the parties. "When 
they reach the ground, each individual, like a wreftler, en- 
deavours to gain the moft advantageous pofition for flinging 
his adverfary to death. Sometimes, though rarely, the fting 
is left in the wound. If this were generally the cafe, every 
combat would prove fatal to two bees ; for the victor could 
not long furvive the lofs of his fling. Thefe battles fome- 
times continue near an hour before one of the flies is left ex- 
piring on the ground. 

Befide thefe {ingle combats, general actions are not unfre- 
quent, efpecially in the fwarming feafon. When two fwarms, 
or colonies, happen to contend for the fame habitation, a 
general and bloody engagement immediately enfues. Thefe 
engagements often continue for hours, and never terminate 
without great havock on both fides. The fling is not the 
only weapon employed in war by bees. They are furnifhed 
with two ftrong fangs or teeth, with which they cruelly tear 
each other. Even in general engagements, all the combats 
are Angle. But, when the great flaughter of the males is 
committing, three or four neuters are not afhamed to attack 
a Angle fly. 

Every wafp's neft, about the beginniug of October, exhib- 
its a Angular and a cruel fcene. At this feafon, the wafps 
ceafe to bring nourifhment to their young, From affection- 
ate mothers or nurfes, they at once become barbarous ftep- 
mothers. They are worfe ; for they drag the young worms 
from their cells, and carry them out of the neft. Being thus; 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 393 

expofed to the weather, and deprived of nourishment, every 
one o£ them unavoidably perifhes. This devastation is not 
like that of the honey-bees, confined to the male-worms, 
Here no worm, of whatever denomination or fex, efcapes the 
general and undiftinguiShing maffacre. Befide expofing the 
worms to the weather, the wafps kill them with their fangs. 
This fact feems to be a violation of parental affection, one of 
the ftrongeft principles in animal nature. But the inten- 
tions of Nature, though they may often elude our research- 
es, are never wrong, What appears to us cruel and unnat- 
ural in this inftinctive devaftation committed annually by the 
wafps, is perhaps an act of the greateft mercy and companion. 
Wafps are not, like the honey-bees, endowed with the in- 
ftinct of laying up a ftore of provifions for winter fubfiftence. 
If not prematurely deftroyed by their parents, the young 
muft necefTarily die a more cruel and lingering death, occa- 
sioned by hunger. Hence this feemingly harfh conduct in 
the oeconomy of wafps, inftead of affording an exception to 
the univerfal benevolence and wifdom of Nature, is, in reali- 
ty, a merciful inftitution. Befides, as the multiplication of 
wafps is prodigious, and as they are a noxious race both to 
man and other animals, and efpecialiy to many tribes of in- 
fects, if their increafe were not checked by fuch a -dreadful 
carnage, their depredations, in a few years, would annihilate 
other fpecies, break the chain of Nature, and even prove de- 
structive to man and the larger animals. 

The fame inftinctive Slaughter, and probably for the fame 
reafons, is made by the hornets. Towards the end of Octo- 
ber, all the worms and nymphs are dragged out of the neft 
and killed. The neuters and males fall daily victims to the 
cold *, fo that, at the end of winter, a few fertile females on^ 
ly remain to continue the fpecies. 

According to the adopted plan, we fhall finiSh this fubjedt 
with fome obfervations which may have a tendency to recon= 



394< THE PHILOSOPHY 

cile our minds to a fyftem fo deftrudtive to individuals of 
every fpecies, that humanity, when not enlightened by a ray 
of philofophy, is apt to revolt, and to brand Nature with 
cruelty and oppreffion. Nature^ it muft be confefTed, feems 
almoft indifferent to individuals, who perifh every moment 
in millions, without any apparent compunction. But, with 
regard to fpecies ef every defcription, her uniform and un- 
interrupted attention to the prelervation and continuation of 
the great fyftem of animation is confpicuous, and merits ad- 
miration. Life, it fhould appear, cannot be fupported with- 
out the intervention of death. Through almoft the whole 
of animated Nature, as we have feen, nothing but rapine, 
and the deftruction of individuals, prevail. This deftruc- 
tion, however, has its ufe. Every animal, after death, ad- 
minifters life and happinefs to a number of others. In ma- 
ny animals, the powers of digeflion, and of afiimilation, are 
confined to animal fubftances alone. If deprived of animal 
food, fuch fpecies, it is evident, could not exift. The chief 
force of this obfervation, it is admitted, is applicable folely 
to the carnivorous tribes, ftrictly fo denominated. But, from 
the facts formerly enumerated, and from the daily experi- 
ence of every man, it is apparent, that, perhaps, no animal 
does or can exift totally independent of food that is or has 
been animated. Sheep, oxen, and all herbivorous animals, 
though not from choice, and even without confcioufnefs, 
daily devour thoufands of infects. This may be one reafon 
why cattle of all kinds fatten fo remarkably in rich paftures ; 
for infects are always moft numerous where the herbage is 
luxuriant. Nature is fo profufe in her animated produc- 
tions, that no food can be eat, and no fluid can be drunk, in 
which animal fubftances, either in a living or dead ftate, are 
not to be found. 

To this reafoning it may be objected, Why has Nature 
aftablifhed a fyftem fo cruel ? .why did fhe render it nece£- 



OF NATtJRAL HISTCTRY. 39S 

fary that one animal could not live without the deftruction 
of another ? To fuch queftions no anfwer can be either giv- 
en or expected. No being, except the Supreme, can unfold 
this myftery. Perhaps it even exceeds the limits of poflibil- 
ky to eftablifh fuch an extended fyftem of animation upon, 
any other foundation* From the general benevolence of the 
great Creator, we are warranted to conclude that this is real- 
ly the cafe. But it is fruitlefs to dwell upon fubjects which 
are infcrutable, and far removed beyond the powers of hu- 
man intellect. We fhall therefore defcend, and endeavour 
to point out fome advantages which refult from this myfte- 
rious inftitution of Nature. 

On this branch of the fubject, the reader will eafily per- 
ceive that much order or connection is not to be expected. 

The hoftiiities of animals, mankind not excepted, give rife 
to mutual improvement. Animals improve, and difcover a 
fuperiority of parts, in proportion to the number of enemies 
they have to attack or evade. The weak, and confequently 
timid, are obliged to exert their utmoft powers in inventing 
and practifing every poffible mode of efcape. Pure inftinct 
powerfully prompts ; but much is learned by experience and 
obfervation. Rapacious animals, on the contrary, by fre- 
quent difappointment, are obliged to provide againft the 
cunning and alertnefs of their prey. Herbivorous animals, 
as they have little difficulty in procuring food, are propor- 
tionally ftupid 5 but they would be fHll more ftupid, if they 
had no enemies to annoy them. Man, if his attention and 
talents were not excited by the animofities of his own fpe- 
cies, by the attacks of ferocious animals, and even by thofe 
of the infect tribes, would be an indolent, an incurious, a dir- 
ty, and an ignorant animal. Thofe of the human race, ac- 
cordingly, who procure their food with little or no induftry, 
as we learn from a multitude of travellers and voyagers, are 
perfectly indolent and brutifhly ftupid. Timid animals nev- 



395 THE PHILOSOPHY 

er life the arts of defence, or provide againft danger, except 
from three caufes, pure inftinct, which is implanted in their 
natures, imitation, and experience. By experience, timid 
animals are taught the arts of evafion. Flight is inftinctive ; 
but the modifications of it are acquired by imitation and ex- 
perience. 

Hoftilities, in fome inftances, feem to arife, not from a 
natural antipathy of one fpecies to another, but from a fear- 
city of food. The celebrated Captain Cook informs us, that, 
in Staten Ifland, birds of prey affemble promifcuoufly with 
penguias and other birds, without the one offering any inju- 
ry, or the other difcovering the fmalleft fymptom of terror. 
In that Ifland, the rapacious birds, perhaps, find plenty of 
food from dead feals, fea-lions, and fifties. 

A profuiion of animal life feems to be the general inten- 
tion of Nature. For this purpofe, when not modified or re- 
ftrained by the induftry and intelligence of man, fhe uni- 
formly covers the furface of the earth with trees and vegeta- 
bles of every kind, which fupply myriads of animated beings 
with food. But the greateft pofllble extention of life would 
ftill be wanting, if animals did not prey upon each other. If 
all animals were to live upon vegetables alone, many fpecies, 
and millions of individuals, which now enjoy life and happi- 
nefs, could have no exiftence ; for the productions of the 
earth would not be fufficient to fupport them. But, by mak- 
ing animals feed upon each other, the fyftem of animation 
and of happinefs is extended to the greateft poflible degree. 
In this view, Nature, inftead of being cruel and oppreffive, is 
highly generous and beneficent. 

To diminifh the number of noxious animals, and to aug- 
ment that of ufeful vegetables, has been the uniform fcope 
of human induftry. A few fpecies of animals only are of 
immediate utility to man. Thefe he either cultivates with 
care, or hunts for his prey. The ox, the fheep, the goat, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 397 

and other animals which are under his peculiar protection, 
he daily ufes for food. This is not cruelty. He has a right 
to eat them : For, like Nature, though he occafionally de- 
ftroys domeftic animals, a timid and docile race of being?, 
by his culture and protection he gives life and happinefs to 
millions, which, without his aid, could have no exiftence. 
The number of individuals, among animals of this defcrip- 
tion if they were not cherittied and defended by man, would 
be extremely limited*, for, by the miidnefs of their difpofitions, 
the comparative weaknefs of their arms, and the univerfal 
and Strong appetite for them by rapacious quadrupeds and 
birds of prey, though the fpecies might, perhaps, be contin- 
ued, the number of individuals would, of neceflity, be very 
fmall. 

There is a wonderful balance in the fyftem of animal de- 
struction. If the general profufion of the animated produc- 
tions of Nature had no other check than the various periods 
to which their lives, when not extinguished by hostilities of 
one kind or another, are limited, the whole would foon be 
annihilated by an univerfal famine, and the earth, initead of 
every where teeming with animals, would, unlefs re-peopled 
by a new creation, exhibit nothing but a mute, a lifelefs, and 
an inactive fcene. If even a Single fpecies were permitted to 
multiply without disturbance, the food of other fpecies 
would be exhaufted, and, of courfe, a period would be put 
to their exiftence. The herbivorous and frugivorous races, 
if not reftrained by the carnivorous, would foon increafe to a 
hurtful degree. Carnivorous animals are the barriers fixed 
by Nature to noxious inundations of other kinds. The 
carnivorous tribes may be compared to the hoe and the prun- 
ing hook, which, by diminishing the number of plants when 
too clofe, or lopping off their luxuriancies, make the others 
grow to greater perfection. To thofe fwarms of infects 

which cover the furface of the earth, are oppofed an army of 

B £ b 



393 THE PHILOSOPHY , 

birds, an active, a vigilant, and a voracious race. Hares, fab- 
bits, mice, rats, are expofed to the depredations of carnivo- 
rous quadrupeds and birds. The larger cattle, as the ox, 
the deer, the fheep, &c. are not exempted from enemies : 
And man, by the fuperiority of his mental powers, checks 
the multiplication of the carnivorous tribes, and maintains 
the balance and empire of the animal fyftem. Thofe fpecies 
which are endowed with uncommon fertility have the great- 
eft number of enemies. The caterpillar, the puceron, and 
infects in general, one of the mod prolific tribes of animals, 
are attacked and devoured by numerous hoftile bands. No 
fpecies, however, is ever exhaufted. The balance between 
gain and iofs is perpetually preferved. The earth, the feas, 
the atmofphere, may be confldered as an immenfe and varie- 
gated pafture. In this view, it k moft judicioufly cultivated 
and ftocked by the numerous animated beings which it is 
deftined to fupport. Every animal and every vegetable fur- 
nifh fubfiftence to particular fpecies. Thus, nothing of value 
is loft -, and every fpecies is abundantly fupplied with food. 

That the general balance of animation is conftantly preferv- 
ed, we learn from daily experience. The reader, however, 
I prefume, will not be difpleafed to have fome examples of 
the modes employed by Nature to accomplish this effect fug- 
gefted to him. 

After an inundation of the Nile, the lower parts of Egypt 
are greatly infefted with ferpents, frogs, mice, and other ver- 
min. At that period, the ftorks refort thither in immenfe 
multitudes, and devour the ferpents, frogs, and mice, which, 
without this dreadful carnage, would be highly noxious to 
the inhabitants. Belon, a moft ingenious and faithful French 
naturalift, remarks, that, in many places, the land could not 
be inhabited, if the ftorks did not deftroy the amazing num- 
bers of mice which frequently appear in Paleftine, and other 
farts of the Eaft bordering upon Egypt. The Egyptian vul- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. S9S 

tare, fays Haffelquift, is of a fingular benefit to that country. 
It eats up all the dung and off-falls in the towns, and the car- 
eaffes of camels, horfes, affes, &c. in the fields, which, if not 
quickly devoured, would, in that warm climate, by their pu- 
trefcency, be productive of difeafe and death to the inhabi- 
tants. ' Putrid carcaiTes, in all countries, are both offenfive 
to the noftrils and hurtful to health. But Nature, by various 
inftruments, foon removes the evil. An animal no fooner 
dies, than, in a very fhort time, he is confumed by bears, 
wolves, foxes, dogs, and ravens. In fituations where thefe 
animals dare not approach, as in the vicinity of towns and 
villages, a dead horfe, in a few days, is devoured by myriads 
of maggots. In the uncultivated parts of America, ferpents 
and fnakes of different kinds abound. After it was difcov- 
ed that fwine greedily devoured ferpents, hogs were uni- 
formly kept by all new fettlers. Caterpillars are deftructive 
to the leaves and fruits of plants. Their numbers and va- 
rieties are immenfe. But their devaftations are checked by 
many enemies. Without a profufion of caterpillars, mod of 
the fmaller birds, efpecially when young, could not be fup- 
ported. By devouring the caterpillars, thefe birds preferve 
the fruits of the earth from total deftruction. Mr. Bradley, 
in his general treatife of hufbandry and gardening, has pubr 
lifhed a letter, in which the author oppofes the common 
opinion, that birds, and particularly fparrows, do much mif- 
chief in our gardens and fields. The fact is admitted. But 
the great utility of thefe birds is overlooked : For this author 
proves, that they are much more ufeful than noxious. He 
{hows, that a pair of fparrows, during the time they have 
their young to feed, deftroy, every week, 3360 caterpillars. 
This calculation he founded upon actual obfervation. He 
difcovered that the two parents carried to the nefl 40 cater- 
pillars in an hour. He then fuppofes, which is a moderate 
fuppofition, that the fparrows enter the neft only 12 hours 



400 THE PHILOSOPHY 

each day, which is a daily confumption of 480 caterpillars. 
This fum, multiplied by 7, or the days of the week, gives 
3360 caterpillars extirpated weekly from a garden. The 
utility of thefe birds is not limited to this circumftance 
alone ; for they likewife feed their young with butterflies, 
and other winged infects, each of which, if not destroyed in 
this manner, would be the parent of feveral hundreds of cater- 
pillars. Thofe butterflies and caterpillars which are covered 
with hair are rejected by fome birds, who prefer flies of a 
fmoother and fmaller kind. But thefe hairy fpecies, it 
fhould be confidered, are the food of the worms which are 
transformed into thofe fmaller flies that afford nourifhment 
to the birds which reject the hairy caterpillars and butter- 
flies. 

Shell-fifhes are extremely prolific, and fo ftrongly fortified 
by Nature, that their increafe, one fhould imagine, would 
foon augment to a degree that might be hurtful to other 
fpecies. Their noxious multiplication, however, is checked 
by numberlefs enemies. But their moft deftructive enemy 
is the trochus, which is a kind of a fea-fnail. This animal is 
furnifhed with a ftrong, muicular, hollow trunk, bordered at 
the extremity with a cartilage toothed like a faw. Againft 
this inftrument, which acts like an augre, no {hell, however, 
hard or thick, is a fufficient defence. Thefe animals, called 
trochi, fix thomfelves upon an oyfter or a mufcle, bore through 
the fhell with theirtrunk,anddevourtheirpreyat theirleifure. 
The animal attacked, if a bivalve, may open or fhut its fhell ; 
but no efforts of this kind can be of any avail ; for the tro- 
chus remains immoveably fixed till it has completely fucked 
out the vitals of its prey. In this cruel occupation the tro- 
chus often continues for days, and even weeks, before the 
life of the animal attacked is fully extinguifhed. The ope- 
ration of the trochus may be feen in the fhells of many oyf- 
ters, mufcles, and other fheil-fifhes ; for their fhells are often 
pierced with a number of circular holes. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 401 

The amazing fize and ftrength of the whale, one fliould 
imagine, would fecure it from the infults of every other ani- 
mal. But, befide the annual depredations made by man upon 
the cetaceous tribes, they are often attacked and killed by 
the fword-fifh. The fnout of this comparatively fmall ani- 
mal is armed with a long, hard, projection of bone, each 
edge of which is furnifhed with a number of ftrong, flat, and 
fharp points, or teeth, fome of which, efpecially near the 
fnout, are an inch and a half in length. With this inftru- 
ment the fword-fifh boldly attacks the whale* I have often 
had the pleafure, fays Pere Labat*, of feeing their combats. 
The whale has no other defence but its tail, with which it 
endeavours to ftrike its antagonift. But, as the fword-fifh 
is more active and nimble than the whale, he eafily parries 
the blow by fpringing into the air, and renewing the attack 
with his faw-like inftrument. Whenever he fucceeds, the 
fea is dyed red with the blood ifTuing from the wound. The 
fury of the whale appears from the vehemence with which 
it lafhes the waters, each ftroke refounding like the report 
of a cannon. 

■ Many fmall birds, and particularly the wren and the tit- 
moufe, may be feen, during the winter-feafon, pecking at 
the buds and branches of trees in 6ur gardens. To thefe 
little animals Nature has entrufted the charge of preventing 
the noxious multiplication of thofe worms which feed upon 
fruits. Nature, as far as we are able to trace her opera- 
tions, does nothing in vain, or without fome valuable inten- 
tion. No animals exift which are not ufeful, either by af- 
fording nourifhment to, or preventing the hurtful increafe of 
Other fpecies'. 

Upon the whole, every animated being that inhabits this 
globe feems to be deftined by Nature, not for its own indi- 
vidual exiftence and happinefs alone, but likewife for the ex- 
• Nouv, Voyage, torn. 6. page 15c, 



402 THE PHILOSOPHY 

iftence and happlnefs of other animated beings. A circle 
of animation and of deftruction goes perpetually round. 
This is the oeconomy of Nature. Different fpecies of ani- 
mals live by the mutual deftruction of each other. Even 
among individual men, the ftrong too often opprefs the 
weak ; but, on the other hand, the wife inftruct the ignor- 
ant. Thefe are the bonds of fociety, and the fources of im- 
provement. 



/ 

OF NATURAL HISTORY. 403 

CHAPTER XV. 

Of the Artifices of Afiimals, 

J.T will be recollected, that many inftances of the 
dexterity and artifices employed by different animals in va- 
rious parts of their manners and oeconomy, have been occa- 
fionally mentioned in feveral of the foregoing chapters. 
This circumftance, to avoid repetitions, will necefTarily ren- 
der the prefent chapter proportionally fhort. 

The artifices praclifed by animals proceed from feveral 
motives, many of which are purely inftinctive, and others 
are acquired by experience and imitation. Their arts, in 
general, are called forth and exerted by three great and im- 
portant caufes, the love of life, the defire of multiplying and 
continuing the fpecies, and that ftrong attachment which 
every animal has to its offspring. Thefe are the fources from 
which all the movements, all the dexterity, and all the fagac- 
ity of animals originate. The principle of felf-prefervation is 
inftinclive, and ftrongly impreffed upon the minds of all ani- 
mated beings. It gives rife to innumerable arts of attack 
and defence, and not unfrequently to furprifing exertions of 
fagacity and genius. The fame remark is applicable to the 
defire of multiplication, and to parental affection. Upon 
this fubject we fhall, as ufual, give fome examples of animal 
artifice, which may both amufe and inform fome readers. 

When a bear, or other rapacious animal, attacks cattle, 
they inftantly join and form a phalanx for mutual defence. 
In the fame circumftances, horfes rank upon lines, and beat 
off the enemy with their heels. Pontopidon tells us, that 
the fmall Norwegian horfes, when attacked by bears, inftead 
of ftriking with their hind-legs, rear, and, by quick and re- 
peated ftrokes with their fore-feet, either kill the enemy, or 



404 T riE PHILOSOPHY 

oblige him to retire. This curious, and generally fuccefsfui 
defence, is frequently performed in the woods, while a trav- 
eller is fitting on the horfe's back. It has often been re- 
marked, that troops of wild horfes, when fleeping either in 
plains or in the forefl, have always one of their number 
awake, who acts as a centinel, and gives notice of any ap- 
proaching danger. 

Margraaf informs us, that the monkeys in Brazil, while 
they are fleeping on the trees, have uniformly a centinel to 
warn them of the approach of the tiger or other rapacious 
animals •, and that, if ever this centinel is found fleeping, 
his companions inflantly tear him in pieces for his neglect of 
duty. For the fame pilrpofe, when a troop of monkeys are 
Committing depredations on the fruits of a garden, a centi- 
nel is placed on an eminence, who, when any perfon ap- 
pears, makes a certain chattering noife, which the reft un- 
derftand to be a fignal for retreat, and immediately fly- off 
and make their efcape. 

The deer-kind are remarkable for the arts they employ in 
order to deceive the dogs. With this view the flag often 
returns twice or thrice upon his former fteps. He endea- 
vours to raife hinds or younger ftags to follow him, and to 
draw off the dogs from the immediate object of their purfuit. 
If he fucceeds in this attempt, he then flies off with re- 
doubled fpeed, or fpriogs off at a fide, and lies down on his 
belly to conceal himfelf. When in this fituation, if by any 
means his foot is recovered by the dogs, they purfue him 
with more advantage, becaufe he is now confiderably fa- 
tigued. Their ardour increafes in proportion to his feeble- 
nefs ; and the fcent becomes ftronger as he grows warm. 
From thefe circumftances the dogs augment their cries and 
their fpeed -, and, though the flag employs more arts of 
efcape than formerly, as his fwiftnefs is diminifhed, his doub- 
lings and artifices become gradually lefs effectual. No other 



* OF NATURAL HISTORY. 405 

refouroe is now left him but to fly from the earth which he 
treads, and go into the waters, in order to cut off the fcent 
from the dogs, when the huntfmen again endeavour to put 
them on the track of his foot. After taking to the water, 
the ftag is fo much exhaufled that he is incapable of run- 
ning much farther, and is foon at bay, or, in other words, 
turns and defends himfelf againft the hounds. In this fitua- 
tion he often wounds the dogs, and even the huntfmen, by- 
blows with his horns, till one of them cuts his hams to make 
him fall, and then puts a period to his life. The fallow-deer 
is more delicate, lefs favage, and approaches nearer to the 
domeftic ftate than the ftag. The males, during the rutting 
feafon, make a bellowing noife, but with a low and interrupt- 
ed voice. They are not fo furious as the ftag. They never 
depart from their own country in queft of females *, but 
they bravely fight for the pofleffion of their miftrefTes. They 
aflbciate in herds, which generally keep together. When 
great numbers are afiembled in one park, they commonly 
form themfelves into two diftincl: troops, which foon become 
hoftile •, becaufe they are both ambitious of poflefling the 
fame part of the inclofure. Each of thefe troops has its own 
chief or leader, who always marches foremoft, and he is uni- 
formly the oldeft and ftrongeft of the flock. The others 
follow him ; and the whole draw up in order of battle, to 
force the other troop, who obferve the fame conduct, from 
the beft pafture. The regularity with which thefe combats 
are conducted is Angular. They make regular attacks, fight 
with courage, and never think themfelves vanquifhed by one 
check ; for the battle is daily renewed till the weaker are 
completely defeated, and obliged to remain in the worft paf- 
ture. They love elevated and hilly countries. When 
hunted, they run not ftraight out, like the ftag, but double, 
and endeavour to conceal themfelves from the dogs by va- 
rious artifices, and by fubftituting other animals in their 

C c c. 



406 THE PHILOSOPHY 

place. When fatigued and heated, however, they take th«f 
water, but never attempt to crofs fuch large rivers as the ftag. 
Thus, between the chace of the fallow-deer and of the ftag, 
there is no material difference. Their fagacity and inftincts, 
their fliifts and doublings, are the fame, only they are more 
frequently practifed by. the fallow-deer. As he runs not fo 
far before the dogs, and is lefs enterprifing, he has oftener 
occafion to change, to fubftitute another in his place, to 
double, return upon his former tracks, &c. which renders 
the hunting of the fallow-deer more fubjecl: to inconvenien- 
eies than that of the ftag. 

The roe-deer is inferior to the ftag and fallow-deer both 
in ftrength and ftature ; but he is endowed with more grace- 
fulnefs, courage, and vivacity. His eyes are more brilliant 
and animated. His limbs are more nimble ; his movements 
are quicker, and he bounds with equal vigour and agility. 
He is likewife more crafty, conceals himfelf with greater ad- 
drefs, and derives fuperior refources from his inftincts. 
Though he leaves behind him a ftronger fcent than the ftag, 
which increafes the ardour of the dogs, he knows how to 
evade their purfuit, by the rapidity with which he commenc- 
es his flight, and by his numerous doublings. He delays not 
his arts of defence till his ftrength begins to fail him ; for 
he no fooner perceives that the firft efforts of a rapid flight 
have been unfucccfsful, than he repeatedly returns upon his 
former fteps ; and, after confounding, by thefe oppofke mo- 
tions, the direction he has taken, after intermixing the pref- 
ent with the paft emanations of his body, he, by a great 
bound, rifes from the earth, and, retiring to a fide, lies down 
flat on his belly. In this immoveable fituation, he often al- 
lows the whole pack of his deceived enemies to pafs very 
near him. The roe-deer differs from the ftag in difpofition, 
manners, and in almoft every natural habit. Inftead of aflb- 
dating in herds, they live in feparate families; The two 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 407 

parents and the young go together, and never mingle with 
ftrangers. They are conftant in their amours, and never 
unfaithful like the ftag. The females commonly produce 
two fawns, the one a male and the other a female. Thefe 
young animals, who are brought up and nouriflied together, 
acquire a mutual affection fo ftrong, that they never depart 
from each other. This attachment is fomething more than 
love ; for, though always in company, they feel the rut but 
once a year, and it continues only fifteen days. At this pe- 
riod the father drives off the fawns, as if he intended that 
they fhould yield their place to thole which are to fucceed, 
in order to form new families for themfelves. After the 
rutting feafon, however, is paft, the fawns return to their 
mother, and continue with her fome time longer j after 
which they feparate forever, and remove to a diftance from 
the place of their nativity. When about to bring forth, the 
female feparates from the male ; and, to avoid the w r olf, her 
inoft dangerous enemy, conceals herfelf in the deepen: re- 
cefTes of the foreft. In a week or two the fawns are able to 
follow her. When threatened with danger, fhe hides them 
in a clofe thicket ; and, fo ftrong is her parental affection, 
that, in order to preferve her offspring from deftruc~tion, fhe 
prefents herfelf to be chafed. 

Hares poffefs not, like rabbits, the art of digging retreats 
in the earth. But they neither want inftincl: fufficient for 
their own prefervation, nor fagacity for efcaping their ene- 
mies. They form feats or nefts on the furface of the ground, 
where they watch, with the moft vigilant attention* the ap- 
proach of any danger. In order to deceive, they conceal them- 
felves between clods of the fame colour with that of their 
own hair. When purfued, they firft run with rapidity, and 
then double, or return upon their former fteps. From the 
place of ftarting, the females run not fo far as the males ; 
but they double more frequently. Hares bunted in the place 



408 THE PHILOSOPHY 

where they were brought forth, feldom remove to a great 
diftance from it, but return to their form ; and, when chaf- 
ed two days fucceflively, on the fecond day they perform the 
fame doublings they had pradtifed the day before. When 
hares run ftraight out to a great diftance, it is a proof that 
they are ftrangers. Male hares, efpecially during the moft 
remarkable period of rutting, which is in the months of Jan- 
uary, February, and March, fometimes perform jonrnies of 
feveral miles in queft of mates ; but, as foon as they are 
ftarted by dogs, they fly back to the place of their nativity. 
f I have feen a hare,' Fouilloux remarks, ' fo fagacious, that, 

* after hearing the hunter's horn, he ftarted from his form, 
f and, though at the diftance of a quarter of a league, went 
« to fwim in a pool, and lay down on the rufhes in the mid- 
« die of it, without being chafed by the dogs. I have feen a hare 

* after running two hours before the dogs, pufh another from 
c his feat, and take pofleflion of it. I have feen others fwim 
« over two or three ponds, the narroweft of which was eighty 

* paces broad. I have feen others, after a two hours chace, 

* run into a fheep-fold and lie down among them. I have 
c feen others, when hard pufhed, run in among a flock of 
c fheep, and would not leave them. I have feen others, af- 
f ter hearing the noife of the hounds, conceal themfelves in the 

* earth. I have {ecn others run up one fide of a hedge and 

* return by the other, when there was nothing elfe between 
c them and the dogs. I have feen others, after running half 
< an hour, mount an old wall, fix feet high, and clap down 
« in a hole covered with ivy. Laftly, I have {een others 
« fwim over a river, of about eighty paces broad, oftener 
c than twice, in the length of two hundred paces.' 

The fox has, in all ages and nations, been celebrated for 
craftinefs and addrefs. Acute and circumfpec't, fagacious 
and prudent, he diverfifies his conduct, and always referves 
fome art for unforefeen accidents. Though nimbler than 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 409 

the wolf, he trufts not entirely to the fwiftnefs of his courfe. 
He knows how to enfure fafety, by providing himfelf with 
an afylum, to which he retires when danger appears. He is 
not a vagabond, but lives in a fettled habitation and in a do- 
mestic ftate. The choice of fituation, the art of making and 
rendering a houfe commodious, and of concealing the aven- 
ues which lead to it, imply a fuperior degree of fentiment 
and reflection. The fox pofTeffes thefe qualities, and em- 
ploys them with dexterity and advantage. He takes up his; 
abode on the border of a wood, and in the neighbourhood 
of cottages. Here he liftens to the crowing of the cocks and 
the noife of the poultry. He fcents them at a diftance. He 
choofes his time with great judgment and difcretiom He 
conceals both his route and his deiign. He moves forward 
with caution, fometimes even trailing his body, and feldom 
makes a fruitlefs expedition. When he leaps the wall, ov 
gets in underneath it, he ravages the court-yard, puts all the 
fowls to death, and then retires quietly with his prey, which 
he either conceals under the herbage, or carries off to his 
kennel. In a fhort time he returns for another, which he 
carries off and hides in the fame manner, but in a different 
place. In this manner he proceeds, till the light of the fun. 
Or fome movements perceived in the houfe, admonifh him 
that it is time to retire to his den. He does much mifchief 
to the bird-catchers. Early in the morning he vifits their 
nets and their bird-lime, and carries off fucceffively all the 
birds that happen to be entangled. The young hares he 
hunts in the plains, feizes old -ones in their feats, digs out 
the rabbits in the warrens, finds out the nefts of partridges, 
quails, &c. feizes the mother on the eggs, and deftroys a 
prodigious number of game. Dogs of all kinds fpontane- 
oufly hunt the fox. Though his odour be ftrong, they often 
prefer him to the ftag or the hare. When purfued he runs 
to his hole ; and it is not uncommon to fend in terriers to 



410 ' THE PHILOSOPHY 

detain him till the hunters remove the earth above, and 
either kill or feize him alive. The mod certain method, 
however, of deftroying a fox is to begin with (hutting up 
the hole, to ftation a man with a gun near the entrance, and 
then to fearch about with the dogs. When they fall in with 
him, he immediately makes for his hole. But, when he 
comes up to it, he is met with a difcharge from the gun. If 
the fliot mifTes him, he flies off with full fpeed, takes a wide 
circuit, and returns again to the hole, where he is fired up- 
on a fecond time ; but, when he difcovers that the entrance 
is fliut, he darts away.ftraight forward, with the intention of 
never revifiting his former habitation. He is next purfued 
by the hounds, whom he feldom fails to fatigue ; becaufe, 
with much cunning, he paries through the thickeft part of 
the foreft, or places of the moft difficult accefs, where the 
dogs are hardly able to follow him ; and, when he takes to 
the plains, he runs ftraight out, without either flopping or 
doubling. But the moft effectual way of deftroying foxes is 
to lay fnares baited with live pigeons, fowls, &c. The fox 
is an exceedingly voracious animal. Befide all kinds of flefli 
and fifties, he devours, with equal avidity, eggs, milk, cheefe, 
fruits, and particularly grapes. He is fo extremely fond of 
honey, that he attacks the nefts of wild bees. They at firft 
put him to flight by numberlefs ftings •, but he retires for 
the fole purpofe of rolling himfelf on the ground and of 
crufhing the bees. He returns to the charge fo often, that 
he obliges them to abandon the hive, which he foon uncov- 
ers, and devours both the honey and the wax. Some time 
before the female brings forth, ihe retires, and feldom leaves 
her hole, where fhe prepares a bed for her young. When 
fhe perceives that her retreat is difcovered, and that* her 
young have been difturbed, fhe carries them off, one by one, 
into a new habitation. The fox fleeps in a round form, like 
vhe dqg •, but, when he only repofes himfelf, he lies on his 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 411 

belly with his hind-legs extended. It is in this fituation that 
he eyes the birds on the hedges and trees. The birds have 
fucli an antipathy againfl him, that they no fooner perceive 
him than they fend forth fhrill cries to advertife their neigh- 
bours of the enemy's approach. The jays and blackbirds, 
in particular, follow the fox from tree to tree, fometimes 
two or three hundred paces, often repeating the watch-cries. 
The Count de Buffon kept two young foxes, which, when 
at liberty, attacked the poultry ; but, after, they were chain- 
ed, they never attempted to touch a fingle fowl. A living 
hen was fixed near them for whole nights j and, though 
deftitute of victuals for many hours, in fpite of hunger and 
of opportunity, they never forgot that they were chained, 
and gave the hen no difturbance. 

In Kamtfchatka, the animals called gluttons employ a Angu- 
lar ftratagem for killing the fallow-deer. They climb up a 
tree, and carry with them a quantity of that fpecies of mofs 
of which the deer are very fond. When a deer approaches 
near the tree, the glutton throws down the mofs. If the deer 
ftops to eat the the mofs, the glutton inftantly darts down up- 
on its back and, after fixing himfelf firmly between the horns, 
tears out its eyes, which torments the animal to fuch a degree, 
that, whether to put an end to its torments, or to get rid of its 
cruel enemy, it ftrikes its head againft the trees till it falls 
down dead. The glutton divides the flefh of the deer into 
convenient po rtions, and conceals them in the earth to ferve 
for future provifions. The gluttons on the river Lena kill 
horfes in the fame manner*. 

There are feveral fpecies of rats in Kamtfchatka. The 
mod remarkable kind is called tegulchitch by the natives. 
Thefe rats make neat and fpacious nefts under ground. They 
are lined with turf, and divided into different apartments, in 
which the rats depofit fttfres of provifions for fupporting 
them during the winter. It is worthy of remark, that the 
* Gazette Literaire, vol, i. page 481. 



4J2 THE PHILOSOPHY 

rats of this country never touch the provifions laid up for 
winter, except when they cannot procure nourifhment any 
where e\fe. Thefe rats, like the Tartars, change their habi- 
tations. Sometimes they totally abandon Kamtfchatka for 
feveral years, and their retreat greatly alarms the inhabitants, 
which they confider as a prefage of a rainy feafon, and of a 
bad year for hunting- The return of thefe animals is, of 
courfe, looked upon as a good omen. Whenever they 
appear, the happy news is foon fpread over all parts of the 
country. They always take their departure in the fpring, 
when they afiemble in prodigious numbers, and traverfe riv- 
ers, lakes, and even arms of the fea. After they have made 
a long voyage, they frequently lie montionlefs on the fhore, 
cis if they were dead. When they recover their ftrength 
they recommence their march. The inhabitants of Kamt- 
fchatka are very folicitous for the prefervation of thefe ani- 
mals. They never do the rats any injury, but give them 
every affiftance when they lie weakened and extended on the 
ground. They generally return to Kamtfchatka about the 
month of October ; and they are fometimes met with in 
fuch prodigious numbers that travellers are obliged to flop 
two hours till the whole troop pafles. The track of ground 
they travel in a fingle fummer is not lefs wonderful than the 
regularity they obferve in their march, and that inftinctive 
impulfe which enables them to forefee, with certainty, the 
changes of times and of feafons. 

With regard to Birds> their artifices are not lefs nume- 
rous nor lefs furpriiing than thofe of quadrupeds. The eagle 
and hawk kinds are remarkable for the fharpnefs of their 
fight and the arts they employ in catching their prey. Their 
movements are rapid or flow, according to their intentions, 
and the fituation of the animals they wifli to devour. Rapa- 
cious birds uniformly endeavour to rife higher in the air 
than their prey, that they may have an opportunity of dart- 
ing forcibly down upon it with their pounces. To counter- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 413 

act thefe artifices, Nature has endowed the fmaller and more 
innocent fpecies of birds with many arts of defence. When 
a hawk appears, the fmall birds, if they find it convenient, 
conceal themfelves in the hedges of brufh-wood* When 
deprived of this opportunity, they often, in great numbers, 
feem to follow the hawk, and to expofe themfelves unnece£» 
farily to danger, while, in fact, by their numbers, their per- 
petual changes or direction, and their uniform endeavours to 
rife above him, they perplex the hawk to fuch a degree, that 
he is unable to fix upon a fingle object ; and, after exerting 
all his art and addrefs, he is frequently obliged to relinquish 
the purfuit. When in the extremity of danger, and after 
employing every other artifice in vain, fmall birds have been 
often. known to fly to men for protection. This is a plain 
indication that thefe animals, though they in general avoid 
the human race, are by no means fo much afraid of man as 
of rapacious birds. 

The ravens often frequent the fea-fhoresin queft of food. 
When they find their inability to break the fhells of muf- 
cles, Sec. to accomplifh this purpofe they ufe a very ingeni- 
ous ftratagem : They carry a mufcle, or other fhell-fifh, 
high up in the air, and then dafh it down upon a rock, by 
which means the fheil is broken, and they obtain the end 
they had in view. 

The wood-pecker is furnifhed with a very long and volu- 
ble tongue. It feeds upon ants and other fmall infects. Na- 
ture has endowed this bird with a lingular inftinct. It knows 
how to procure food without feeing its prey. It attaches it- 
felf to the trunks of branches of decayed trees ; and, where- 
ever it perceives a hole or crevice, it darts in its long tongue, 
and brings it out loaded with infects of different kinds. This 
operation is certainly inftinctive ; but the inftinct is affifted 
by the inftruction of the parents ; for the* young are no foon- 
er able to fly, than the parents, by the force of example, 

D d d 



4 14* THE PHILOSOPHY 

teach them to refort to trees, and to infert their tongues in-* 
difcriminately into every hole or fifTure. 

Of the oeconomy ofFi/bes, as formely remarked, our know- 
ledge is extremely limited. But, as the ocean exhibits a 
perpetual and a general fcene of attack and defence, the 
arts of aftault and of evafion mud, of courfe, be exceedingly 
various. For the prefervation of fome fpecies of fifties, Na- 
ture has armed them with ftrong and fharp pikes. Others, 
as the perch-kind, are defended with ftrong bony rays in 
their fins. Others, as the univalve fhell-fifh, retire into 
their fhells upon the approach of danger. The bivalves and 
multivalves, when attacked, inftantly fhut their fhells, which, 
in general, is a fufficient protection to them. Some uni- 
valves, as the limpet-kind, attach themfelves fo firmly, by 
excluding the air, to rocks and ftones, that, unlefs quickly 
furprifed, no force inferior to that of breaking the (hell can 
remove them. The flying-fifh, when purfued, darts out 
of the water, and takes refuge in the air, in which it is for 
fome time fupported by the operation of its large and pli- 
able fins. The torpedo is furnifhed with a remarkable ap- 
paratus for felf-prefervation : It repels every hoftile attempt 
by an electrical ftroke, which confounds and intimidates its 
enemies. Several fifties, and particularly the falmon kind, 
when about to generate, leave the ocean, afcend the rivers, 
depofit their eggs in the fand, and, after making a proper ni- 
dus for their future progeny, return to the ocean from whence 
they came. Others, as the herring-kind, though they fel- 
dom go up rivers, afiemble in myriads from all quarters, and 
approach the fhores, or afcend arms of the fea, for the pur- 
pofe of propagating the fpecies, and cherifhing their off- 
spring. When that operation is performed, they leave the 
coafts and difperfe in the ocean, till the fame inftinctive im- 
pulfe forces them to obferve a fimilar conduct next feafon, 
This migration of falmons, herrings, and many other fifties, 
from the ocean to the rivers or fhores, is of infinite advantage 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 415 

to mankind. They fupply us occasionally, and in fome coun- 
tries, as Great-Britain and particularly Scotland, with abund- 
ance of nourifhing and luxurious food ; and, if our fisheries 
were once put upon a proper footing, they would foon confti- 
tute one of the moft powerful incentives to induftry, and be- 
come a great and important fource of national Strength and 
profperity. 

The infeEl tribes, though comparatively diminutive, are 
not deficient in artifice and addrefs. With much art the 
fpider fpins his web. It ferves him the double purpofe of an 
habitation, and of a machine for catching his food. With 
incredible patience and perfeverance he lies in the center of 
his web for days, and fometimes for weeks, before an ill-fat- 
ed fly happens to be entangled. One fpecies of fpider, 
which is fmall, of a blackiSh colour, and frequents cottages 
or out-houfes, I have known to live during the whole win- 
ter months without almoft the poflibility of receiving any 
nourishment ; for, during that period, not a fly of any kind 
could be difcovered in the apartment. If they had been 
fixed in a torpid State, like fome other animals, the wonder 
of their furviving the want of food fo long would not have 
been fo great. But in the fevereft weather, and through the 
whole courfe of the winter, they were perfectly active and 
lively. Neither did they feem to be in the leaft emaciated. 

The formico-leO) or ant-lion, is a fmall infect, fomewhat re- 
fembling a wood-loufe, but larger. Its head is flat, and arm- 
ed with two fine moveable crotchets or pincers. It has fix 
legs, and its body, which terminates in a point, is compofed 
of a number of membranous rings. In the fand, or in finely 
pulverifed earth, this animal digs a hole in the form of a fun- 
nel, at the bottom of which it lies in ambufh for its prey. 
As it always walks backward, it cannot purfue any infect. To 
fupply this defect, it lays a fnare for them, efpecially for the 
ant, which is its favourite food. It generally lies concealed 
under the fand in the bottom of its funnel or trap, and fel- 



416 THE PHILOSOPHY 

dom exhibits more than the top of its head. In digging a 
funnel, the formica-leo begins with tracing a circular furrow 
in the fand, the circumference of which determines the fize 
of the funnel, which is often an inch deep. After the firft 
furrow is made, the animal traces a fecond, which is always 
concentric with the firft. It throws out the fand, as with a 
fhovel, from the fucceflive furrows or circles, by means of its 
fquare flat head and one of its fore -legs. It proceeds in this 
manner till it has completed its funnel, which . it does with 
furprifing promptitude and addrefs. At the bottom of this 
artful mare it lies concealed and immoveable. "When an ant 
happens to make too near an approach to the margin of the 
funnel, the fides of which are very fteep, the fine fand gives 
way, and the unwary animal tumbles down to the bottom. 
The formica-leo inftantly kills the ant, buries it under the 
fand, and fucks out its vitals. It afterwards pufhes out the 
empty fkin, repairs the diforder introduced into its fnare, 
and again lies in ambufh for a frefh prey. 

We formerly took fome notice of that fpecies of fpider 
which carries her eggs in a bag attached to her belly. A 
fpider of this kind was thrown into the funnel of a formica- 
loe. The latter inftantly feized the bag of eggs, and endeav- 
oured to drag it under the fand. The fpider from a ftrong 
love of offspring, allowed its own body to be carried along 
with the bag. But the flender filk by which it was fixed to 
the animal's belly broke, and a feparation took place. The 
fpider immediately feized the bag with her pincers, and exert- 
ed all her efforts to regain the object of her affections. But 
thefe efforts were ineffectual -, for the formica-leo gradually 
funk the bag deeper and deeper in the fand. The fpider, 
however, rather than quit her hold, allowed herfelf to be bu- 
ried alive. In a fhort time, the obferver removed the fand, 
and took out the fpider. She was perfectly unhurt ; for the 
formica-leo had not made any attack upon her. But, fo 



OF natural myroRY. 417 

ftrong was her attachment to her eggs, that, though fre- 
quently touched with a twig, fhe would not relinquifh the 
place which contained them*. 

When arrived at its full growth, the formica-leo gives up 
the bufinefs of an enfnaring hunter. He deferts his former 
habitation, and crawls about for fome time on the furface of 
the earth. He at laft retires under the ground, fpins a round 
filken pod, and is foon transformed into a fly. 

* Qeuvres de Bonnet, vol. 4, page 295. Svo edit. Amfterdora 1765, 



418 THE PHILOSOPHY 

,, i 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Of the Society of Animals, 

A HE afibciating principle, from which fo many 
advantages are derived, is not confined to the human fpecies, 
but extends, in fome inftances, to every clafs of animals. 

It is remarked by Buffon, and fome other authors, that 
the ftate of Nature, which had long occupied the attention 
and refearches of philofophers, was rejected by them after 
the difcovery was made. In the eftimation of the authors 
alluded to, the favage ftate is the ftate of Nature. The firft 
natural condition of mankind is the union of a male and a fe- 
male. Thefe produce a family, who, from neceflity, or, in 
other words, from parental and filial affection, continue toge- 
ther, and aflift each other in procuring food and fhelter. 
This family, like moft families in eftablifhed civil focieties, 
feel their own weaknefs, and their inability to fupply their 
wants without more powerful refources than their feeble ex-^ 
ertions. When this wandering and defencelefs family acci- 
dentally meet with another family in the fame condition, Na- 
ture, it is faid, teaches them to unite for mutual fupport and 
protection. The aflbciation of two families may be confider- 
ed as the firft formation of a tribe or nation. When a num- 
ber of tribes happen to unite, they only become a larger or 
or more numerous nation. Asngle pair, it is true, if placed 
in a fituation where plenty of food could be procured with- 
out much labour, might, in a fucceilion of ages, produce any 
indefinitive number. This is precifely the fituation in which 
Mofes has placed our firft parents. He has added another cir- 
cumftance highly favourable to a fpeedy population. Inftead 
^f the prefent brevity of human life, he informs us, that 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 419 

then, in the firft periods of the world, lived and propagated 
feveral hundred years. 

In countries thinly peopled with favages, it is extremely 
probable, that focieties are formed by the gradual union of 
families and tribes. The increafe of power ariiing from mu- 
tual affiftance, and a thoufand other comfortable circumftan- 
ces, foon contribute to cement more firmly the aflbciated 
members. Some of the arts of life, befide that of hunting, 
are occafionally difcovered either by accident or by the inge- 
nuity of individuals. In this manner, gradual advances are 
made from the favage to the civilized condition of mankind. 
This is a very fhort view of the origin of fociety, which has 
been adopted by mod authors both ancient and modern, 
though many of them have derived the aflbciating principle 
from very different, and even from oppofite caufes, which it 
is no part of our plan either to enumerate or refute. Some 
writers, as Ariflotle, and a few moderns, implicit followers 
of his opinions, deny that man is naturally a gregarious or 
aflbciating animal. To render this notion confiftent with 
the actual and univerfal ftate of the human race, thefe au- 
thors have had recourfe to puerile conceits, and to queftion- 
able facts, which it would be fruitlefs to relate. Other writ- 
ers, poflefled of greater judgment and difcernment, and lefs 
warped with vanity and hypothetical phantoms, have deriv- 
ed the origin of fociety from its real and only fource, Nature 
herfelf. 

That the aflbciating principle is inftinctive hardly requires 
a proof. An appeal to the feelings of any human being, and 
to the univerfal condition of mankind, is fufficient. Thefe 
feelings, it may be faid, are acquired by education and habit. 
By thefe caufes, it is true, our focial feelings are ftrengthen- 
ed and confirmed -, but their origin is coeval with the exift- 
ence of the firft human mind. Let any man attend to the eyes, 
the features, and the geftures of a child upon the breaft, 



420 f HE PHltOSOPHY 

when another child is prefented to it ; both inftantly, pre- 
vious to the poflibility of inftrudtion or habit, exhibit the 
mod evident expreffions of joy. Their eyes fparkle, their 
features and geftures demonftrate, in the moft unequivoca- 
ble manner, a mutual attachment, and a ftrong defire of ap- 
proaching each other, not with a hoftile intention, but with 
an ardent affection, which, in that pure and uncontaminated 
ftate of our being, does honour to human nature. When 
farther advanced, children who are ftrangers to each other, 
though their focial appetite is equally ftrong, difcover a mu- 
tual fhynefs of approach. This fhynefs or modefty, how- 
ever, is foon conquered by the more powerful inftinct of 
affociation. They daily mingle and fport together. Their 
natural affections, which, at that period, are ftrong, and un- 
biased by thofe felfifh and vicious motives which too often 
conceal and thwart the intentions of Nature, create warm 
friendfhips that frequently continue during their lives, and 
produce the moft beneficial and cordial effects. When we 
thus fee with our eyes, that the affociating principle appears 
at a period much more early than many of our other inftincts, 
who will liften to thofe writers who choofe to deny that man 
is, naturally, an affociating or gregarious animal ? 

With regard to the advantages we derive from affocia- 
tion, a volume would not be fufficient to enumerate them. 
Man, from the comparatively great number of inftincts with 
which his mind is endowed, neceffarily poffeffes a portion of 
the reafoning faculty highly fuperior to that of any other ani- 
mal. He alone enjoys the power of communicating and ex- 
prefling his ideas by articulate and artificial language. This 
ineftimable prerogative is, perhaps, one of the greateft fecon- 
dary bonds of fociety, and the greateft fource of improvement 
to the human intellect. Without artificial language, though 
Nature has beftowed on every animal a mode of expreffing 
its wants and defires, its pleafures and pains, what an humil- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 421 

iating figure would the human fpecies exhibit, even upon the 
fuppofition that they did affociate ? But, when language and 
aflbciation are conjoined, the human intellect, in the progrefs 
of time, arrives at a high degree of perfection. Society 
gives rife to virtue, honour, government, fubordination, 
arts, fcience, order, happinefs. All the individuals of a com- 
munity conduct themfelves upon a regulated fyftem. Under 
the influence of eftablimed laws, kings and magiftrates, by 
the exercife of legal authority, encourage virtue, reprefs vice, 
and diffufe, through the extent of their jurifdictions, the hap* 
py effects of their adminiftration. In fociety, as in a fertile 
climate, human talents germinate and are expanded ; the 
mechanical and liberal arts flourifti ; poets, orators, hoftori- 
ans, philofophers, lawyers, phyficiails, and theologians, are 
produced. Thefe truths are pleafant ; and it were to be 
wifhed that no evils accompanied them. But, through the 
whole extent of Nature, it fhould appear, from our limited 
views, that good and evil, pleafure and pain, are neceffary 
and perpetual concomitants. »• 

The advantages of fociety are immenfe and invaluable. 
But the inconveniencies, hardships, injuftice, oppreffions, and 
cruelties, which too often originate from it are great and la- 
mentable. Even under the miidefr. and beft regulated gov- 
ernments, animofities, jealoufies, avarice, fraud, and chicane, 
are unfortunately never removed from our obfervation. In 
abfolute monarchies, and particularly in defpotic govern- 
ments, the fcenes of private and of general calamity and dif- 
trefs are often too dreadful to be defcribed. Notwithftand- 
ing all thefe difad vantages, however, any government is pre- 
ferable to anarchy ; and the comforts, pleafures, and improve- 
ments, we receive from aflbciating with each other, overbal- 
ance all the evils to which fociety gives rife. 

From an attentive obfervation of the manners and oecono- 
my of animals, fociety has been diftinguifhed into two kinds, 

E e e 



42.2 1<HE PHILOSOPH? 

which have been called proper, and improper. 1 . Proper Saciettes , 
comprehend all thofe animals who not only live together in 
numbers, but carry on certain operations which have a direct 
tendency to promote the welfare and happinefs of the com- 
munity. 2. Improper Societies, include all thofe animals who 
herd together, and love the company of each other, without 
Carrying on any common operations. 

1. Proper Societies. — It is almoft needlefs to remark that 
man holds the firft rank in animal aflbciations of this kind. 
If men did not affift each other, no operation of any magni- 
tude, or which could fhow any great fuperiority of talents 
above thofe of the brute creation, could poffibly be effected. 
A (ingle family, or even a few families united, like other car- 
nivorous animals, might hunt their prey, and procure a fuf- 
ficient quantity of food. They might like the bear, lodge in 
the cavities of trees •, they might occupy natural caves in the 
rocks ; they might even build huts with branches of trees 
and with turf, and cement thefe grofs materials with clay. 
This loweft and moft abject view of human nature is not ex- 
aggerated. It were to be wiflied that this grovelling condi- 
tion of mankind were fictitious, and that, in many regions of 
the globe, it did not, at this moment, exift. Thefe opera- 
tions of men, when only acquainted with the mere rudiments 
of fociety, indicate parts little fuperior to thofe of the brutes. 
Man, even in his moft uninformed ftate, poffeffes the in- 
ftincts, or the germs, of every fpecies of knowledge and of 
genius. But they muft be cherifhed, expanded, and brought 
gradually to perfection. It is by numerous and regularly 
eftablifhed focieties alone that fuch glorious exhibitions of 
human intellect can he produced. What is the hut of a 
favage when compared to the palace of a prince ? or what his 
canoe when compared to a firft rate ihip of war ? 

Next to the intelligence exhibited in human fociety, that 
©f the beavers is the moft confpicuous. Their operations i* 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 423 

preparing, fafhioning, and tranfporting, the heavy materials 
for building their winter habitations, as formerly remarked*, 
are truly aftonifhing ; and, when we read their hiftory, we 
are apt to think that we are peruiing the hiftory of man in 
a period of fociety not inconfiderably advanced. It is only 
by the united ftrength, and co-operation of numbers, that the 
beavers could be enabled to produce fuch wonderful effects ; 
for, in a folitary ftate, as they at prefent appear in fome 
northern parts of Europe, the beavers, like folitary favages, 
are timid and ftupid animals. They neither afTociate, nor 
attempt to conftruct villages, but content themfelves with 
digging holes in the earth. Like men under the oppreffion 
of defpotic governments, the fpirit of the European beavers 
is deprefTed, and their genius is extinguifhed by terror, and 
by a perpetual and neceffary attention to individuul fafety. 
The northern parts of Europe are now fo populous, and the 
animals there are fo perpetually hunted for the fake of their 
furs, that they have no opportunity of affociating •, of courfe, 
thofe wonderful remarks of their fagacity, which they exhib- 
it in the remote and uninhabited regions of North America, 
are no longer to be found. The fociety of beavers is a fo- 
ciety of peace and of affection. They never quarrel or in- 
jure one another, but live together in different numbers, ac- 
cording to the dimeniions of particular cabins, in the moft 
perfect harmony. The principle of their union is neither 
monarchical nor defpotic. For the inhabitants of the differ- 
ent cabins, as well as thofe of the whole village, feem to ac- 
knowledge no chief or leader whatever. Their affociation 
prefents to our obferv-ition a model of a pure and perfect re- 
public, the only bafis of which is mutual and unequivocal at- 
tachment. They have no law but the law of love and of pa- 
rental affection. Humanity prompts us to wifh that it were 
poffible to eftablifh republics of this kind among mankind. 

* See above, page 313, &c. 



*9 



424 THE PHILOSOPHY 

But the difpofitions of men have little affinity to thofe of the 
beavers. 

The hampfter, or German marmot, and fome other quad- 
rupeds of this kind, live in fociety, and affift each other in 
digging and rendering commodious their fubterraneous hab- 
itations. . The operations of the marmots have already been 
defcribed ; and the nature of their fociety, as they continue 
during the winter in a torpid ftate, is either lefs known, or 
does not excite fo much admiration as that of the beavers. 

Pairing birds, in fome meafure, may be confidered as 
forming proper focieties •, becaufe, in general, the males and 
females mutually affift each other in building nefts and feed- 
ing their young. But this fociety, except in the eagle tribes, 
commonly continues no longer than their mutual offspring 
are fully able to provide for themfelves. None of the feath. 
ered tribes, as far as we know, unite in bodies, in order to 
carry on any operation common to the whole. 

Neither do we learn from hiftory that fifties ever aflbciate 
for the purpofe of executing any common operation. Many 
of them, as herrings, falmons, &c. affemble in multitudes at 
particular feafons of the year i but this aflbciation, to which 
they are impelled by inftinct, has no common object ; for 
each individual is ftimulated to act in this manner by its own 
motives, and no general effect is produced by mutual exer- 
tions. 

In proper focieties, each individual not only attends to his 
own prefervation and welfare, but all the members co-ope- 
rate in certain laborious offices which produce many common 
advantages that could not otherwife be procured. In fome 
Societies, the general principle of aflbciation and of mutual 
labour is purely inftinctive, though, in many cafes, individu- 
als learn, by obfervation and experience, to modify or ac- 
commodate this general principle according to particular ac- 
cidents or circumftances •, fome examples of which have al- 
ready been given in the chapter upon inftinct. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 425 

The infect tribes furnifh many inftances of proper fo- 
cieties. The honey-bees not only labour in common with 
aftonifhing affiduity and art, but their whole attention and 
affections feem to centre in the perfon of the queen or fov- 
ereign of the hive. She is the bafis of their affectation and 
of all their operations. When (he dies by any accident, the 
whole community are inftantly in diiorder. All their labours 
ceafe. No new cells are conftrucled. Neither honey nor 
wax are collected. Nothing but perfect: anarchy prevails, 
till a new queen or female is obtained. The government or 
fociety of bees is more of a monarchical than of a republican 
nature. The whole members of the ftate feem to refpect 
and to be directed by a fingle female. This fact affords a 
ftrong inftance of the force and wifdom of Nature. The 
female alone is the mother of the whole hive, however nu- 
merous. Without her the fpecies could not be continued. 
Nature, therefore, has endowed the reft of the hive with a 
wonderful affection to their common parent. For the recep- 
tion of her eggs Nature impels them to conftruct cells, and 
to lay up ftores of provifions for winter fubliftence. Thefe 
operations proceed from pure inftinctive impulfes. But every 
inftindt neceffarily fuppofes a degree of intellect, a fubftratum 
to be acted upon, otherwife no impulfe could be felt, and of 
courfe, no action nor mark of intelligence could poilibly be 
produced. 

That the intelligence, the government, and the fagacity of 
bees, have been frequently exaggerated, and as frequeutly 
mifunderftood, no real philofopher, or natural hiflorian, will 
pretend to deny. But the late ingenious Count de Buffon, 
through the whole of his great work, betrays the ftrongeft 
inclination to deny that brutes, even thofe which are efteem- 
ed to be the molt fagacious, as the dog, the elephant, &c. 
not to mention the inferior tribes, as birds, fifh.es, and infects, 
are endowed with the fmalleft portion of mind or intellect^ 



42G THE PHILOSOPHY 

but that all their movements, their expreffions, their defires, 
their arts, are folely the refults of mechanical impulfes. 
The Count is peculiarly fevere in his declamations againft the 
fagacity of the honey-bees, and the celebrators of their 
oeconomy and manners. c The genius of folitary bees,' he 
remarks, c is vaftly inferior to that of the gregarious fpecies ; 
and the talents of thofe which affociate in fmall troops 
are lefs confpicuous than of thofe that afTemble in nume- 
rous bodies. Is not this alone fufficient to convince us, that 
the feeming genius of bees is nothing but a refult of pure me- 
cha?rifm> a combination of movements proportioned to num- 
bers, an effect which appears to be complicated, only be- 
caufe it depends on thoufands of individuals ? It muft, 
therefore, be admitted, that bees, taken feparately, have lefs 
genius than the dog, the monkey, and moft other animals : 
It will likewife be admitted, that they have lefs docility, 
lefs attachment, and lefs fentiment •, and that they pofTefs 
fewer qualities relative to thofe of the human fpecies. 
Hence we ought to acknowledge, that their apparent in- 
telligence proceeds folely from the multitude united. This 
union, however, prefuppofes not intellectual powers ; for 
they unite not from moral views : They find themfelves 
together without their confent. This fociety, therefore, is 
a phyfica! afTemblage ordained by Nature, and has no de- 
pendence on knowledge or reafoning. The mother bee 
produces at one time, and in the fame place, ten thoufand 
individuals, which, though they were much more ftupid 
than I have fuppofed them, would be obliged, folely for the 
prefervation of their exiftence, to arrange themfelves into 
fome order. As they all a£l againft each other with equal 
forces, fuppofing their firft movements to produce pain, 
c they would foon learn to diminifh this pain, or, in other 
c words, to afford mutual affi fiance : They, of courfe, would 



OF STATURAL HISTORY. 427 

* exhibit an air of intelligence, and of concurring in the ac- 
4 cornplifhment of the fame end. A fuperficial obferver 
c would inftantly afcribe to them views and talents which 

* they by no means poffefs : He would explain every action : 

* Every operation would have its particular motive, and pro- 
c digies of reafon would arife without number ; for ten 
8 thoufand individuals produced at one time, and obliged to 
6 live together, muft all act in the very fame mannrr *, and, 

if endowed with feeling, they muft acquire the fame habits, 
c affume that arrangement which is the lean: painful, or the 

* moft eafy to themfelves, labour in their hive, return after 

* leaving it, &c. Hence the origin of the many wonderful 
£ talents afcribed to bees, fuch as their architecture, their 
' geometry, their order, their forelight, their patriotifm, and, 

* in a word, their republic, the whole of which, as I have 

* proved, has no exiftence but in the imagination of the ob- 

* ferver*.' 

That this mode of reafoning fhould have been ferioufly 
adopted by fo great a literary character as that of the Count 
de Buffon, is truly aftonifhing. The fubftance of the argu- 
ment is, that ten thoufand bees, or other gregarious infects, 
when brought into exiftence at the fame time, and in the 
fame place, muft neceffarily by the inconvenience or pain 
arifing from mutual preffure, aflume an arrangement, and 
conftruct commodious and artful habitations for the whole 
community. I hate polemical argumentation ; and philofo- 
phical abfurdities are the moft difficult to refute. If ten 
thoufand butterflies, or any other flies, whofe inftinctive or 
mental powers differed from thofe of the bee, fhould be 
brought forth at the fame time, and in the fame place, which 
might be eafily effected by collecting their chryfalids, would 
thefe animals, from the inconveniencies or pain they might 
fuffer by being crouded together, affume a proper arrange-. 
*• Tranflation, vol, 3, page x8j. 



428 THE PHILOSOPHY 

ment, and build habitations fuited to their mutual comfort 
and prefervation ? No. If not allowed to efcape from their 
prefent fituation, they would fuffocate each other •, and, if 
any of them were permitted to get out of their prifon, inftead 
of returning, like the bees, they would avoid it with as much 
horror as a perfon who had made his efcape from the Black 
Hole of Calcutta. No declamatory reafoning, however fpe- 
cious, will ever change the nature of truth. Without fome 
portion of intellect, or what is fynonimous, of mental powers, 
how fhould the different kinds of bees in the fame hive be 
induced to perform fo many different operations ? While 
fome are bufily employed at home in the conftruction of 
cells, others are equally induftrious in the fields collecting 
materials for carrying on the work. They are no fooner 
relieved from their load by their companions and fellow-la- 
bourers in the hive, than they again repair to the fields, 
and, with perfevering induftry, fly from flower to flower 
till they have amaffed another load of materials, which they 
immediately tranfport to the hive. In this laborious ofiice- 
they perfift for many hours every day when the weather 
permits. Will any man pretend to affert, that thefe, and 
many fimilar operations performed by bees, are the refults of 
mechanical impulfes* ? Are bees, when collecting honey, 
and the farina of flowers, at great diftances from the hive, 
compelled by the mechanical preffure of multitudes, to af- 
fume a certain arrangement, and all of them to act in the 
fame manner ? Can any animal be poffeffed of more liber- 
ty, or be more free from mechanical reftraint than a bee while 
roaming at large in the fields ? Befides, what fhould force a 
bee, while wallowing in luxury, to return fo repeatedly to 
the hive with no other view than to feed its companions, or 
to furnifh them with materials for their work ? Here every 
idea of mechanical impulfe is utterly excluded. That bees, 
* For feveral curious operations of bees, which it will be difficult to recon- 
cile with any principles of mechanifm, the reader may confult page 336, &c. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 429 

as well as other animals, are actuated by motives, or impulfes, 
it is willingly allowed. But thefe are not mechanical impul- 
fes. They are the wife and irrefiflible impulfes of Nature 
upon their minds. If bees did not afibciate, and mutually 
affift one another in their various operations, the fpecies 
would foon be annihilated. Not one of them, it is probable, 
would furvive the firft winter. But Nature ever folicitous 
for the prefervation of her productions, has endowed their 
minds with an aflbciating principle, and with inftincts which 
ftimulate them to perform all thofe wonderful operations 
that are neceffary for the exiftence of individuals, and the 
continuation of the fpecies. 

What are called the common caterpillars afford an' inflance of 
proper affcciation. About the middle of fummer, a butter- 
fly depofits from three to four hundred eggs on the leaf of 
a tree, from each of which, in a few days, a young caterpil- 
lar proceeds. They are no fooner hatched than they begin 
to form a common habitation. They fpin filken threads, 
which they attach to one edge of the leaf, and extend them 
to the other. By this operation they make the two edges 
of the leaf approach each other, and form a cavity refem- 
bling a hammock. In a fhort time, the concave leaf is com- 
pletely roofed with a covering of nlk. Under this tent the 
animals live together in mutual friendship and harmony. 
When not difpofed to eat or to fpin, they retire to their tent. 
It requires feveral of thefe habitations to contain the whole. 
According as the animals increafe in fize, the number of 
their tents is augmented. But thefe are only temporay and 
partial lodgements, conftrudted for mutual conveniency, till 
the caterpillars are in a condition to build one more fpacious, 
and which will be fuflicient to contain the whole. After 
gnawing one half of the fubftance of fuch leaves as happen 
to be near the end of fome twig or fmall branch, they begin 
their great work. In constructing this new edifice or neft, 

F f f 



430 THE PHILOSOPHY 

the caterpillars encruft a confiderable part of the twig with 
white filk. In the fame manner, they cover two or three of 
filch leaves as are neareft to the termination of the twig. 
They then fpin filken coverings of greater dimenfions, in 
which they inclofe the two or three leaves together with the 
twig. The neft is now fo fpacious that it is able to contain 
the whole community, every individual of which is employ- 
ed in the common labour. Thefe nefts are too frequently 
feen, in autumn, upon the fruit-trees of our gardens. They 
are ftill more expofed to observation in winter, when the 
leaves, which formerly concealed many of them, are fallen. 
They confifl of large bundles of white filk and wither- 
ed leaves, without any regular or conftant form. Some of 
them are flat, and others roundifh ; but none of them are 
deftitute of angles. By different plain coverings extended 
from the oppolke fides of the leaves and of the twig, the in- 
ternal part of the neft is divided into a number of different 
apartments. To each of thefe apartments, which feem to be 
Very irregular, there are paffages by which the caterpillars 
can either go out in queft of food, or retire in the evening, 
or during rainy weather. The filken coverings, by repeated 
layers, become at laft fo thick and ftrong, that they refift all 
the attacks of the wind, and all the injuries of the air, dur- 
ing eight or nine months. About the beginning of October, 
or when the froft firft commences, the whole community fhut 
themfelves up in the neft. During the winter they remain 
immoveable, and feemingly dead. But, when expofed to 
heat, they foon difcover fymptoms of life, and begin to creep. 
In this country, they feldom go out of the neft till the mid- 
dle or end of April. When they fhut themfelves up for the 
winter, they are very fmall ; but, after they have fed for 
fome days in fpring upon the young and tender leaves, they 
find the neft itfelf, and all the entrances to it, too fmall for 
she increafed fize of their bodies. To remedv this inconve- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 43 } 

nieney, thefe difgufting reptiles know how to enlarge both 
the nefl and its paflages by additional operations accommor 
dated to their prefent ftate. Into thefe new lodgings they 
retire when they want to repofe, to fcreen themfelves from 
the injuries of the weather, or to caft their fkins, In fine, 
after cafting their fkins feveral times, the time of theft* dif- 
perfion arrives. From the beginning to near the end of 
June, they lead a folitary life. Their focial difpofition is no 
longer felt. Each of them fpins a pod of coarfe brown- 
ifh filk. In a few days they are changed into chryfalids ; 
and, in eighteen or twenty days more, they are transformed 
into butterflies. 

Caterpillars of another fpecies, which Reaumur diftinguifh- 
es by the appellation of the proceflionary caterpillar , live in fo- 
ciety till their transformation into flies. Thefe caterpillars 
are of the hairy kind, and are of a reddifh colour. They in- 
habit the oak> and feed upon its leaves. "When very young, 
they have no fixed or general habitation. But, after they 
have acquired about one half of their natural fize, they af- 
femble together, and conftruct a neft fufficient to accommo- 
date the whole. The nefts of thefe caterpillars are attached 
to the trunks of the oak, and are fituated fometimes near the 
earth, and fometimes feven or eight feet above its furface. They 
confift of different ' ftrata, or layers, of filk, which are fpun 
by the united labour of the whole community. Their figure is 
neither flriking nor uniform. On the part of the oak to which 
they are fixed they form a protuberance fimilarto thofe knots 
which are feen upon trees. This protuberance fometimes 
ref ambles a fegment of a circle, and fometimes it is three or 
four times longer than it is broad. Some of thefe nefts are 
from eighteen to twenty inches long, and from five to fix 
inches wide. About the middle of their convexity, they of- 
ten rife more than four inches above the furface of the tree. 



432 THE PHILOSOPHY 

Between the trunk of the tree and the layers of filk a fingle 
hole is left, to allow the animals to go out in queft of food, 
and to retire into the neft after they are fatiated. Notwith- 
standing the great bulk of thefe nefts, and though there are 
often three or four of them upon the fame tree, and never 
elevated above the height of diftinct vifion, they are not 
eafily, perceived ; for the filk of which they are compofed is 
cinereous, and refembles, in colour, thofe mofTes with which 
the trunk of the oak is generally covered. 

The inhabitants of a neft, which are numerous, march out, 
about the fetting of the fun, to forage, under the conduct of 
a chief or leader, all whofe movements they uniformly fol- 
low. The order they obferve is fingular. The firft rank 
confifts of fingle animals, the fecond of two, the third of 
three, the fourth of four, and fometimes more. In this man- 
ner they proceed in queft of food with all the regularity of 
difciplined troops. The chief or leader has no marks of 
pre-eminence ; for any individual that happens firft to ifiue 
from the neft, from that circumftance alone, becomes the 
leader of an expedition. After making a full repaft upon 
the neighbouring leaves, they return to the neft in the fame 
regular order ; and this practice they continue during the 
whole period of their exiftence in the caterpillar ftate. It 
was from this ftrange regularity of movement that Reaumur, 
with much propriety, denominated thefe animals procefficnary 
caterpillars . When arrived at maturity, each individual 
fpins a filken pod, is converted into a chryfalis, and after- 
wards aflumes the form of a butterfly. This laft transfor- 
mation breaks all the bonds of their former aiTociation, and 
the female flies depofit their eggs, which, when hatched, 
produce new colonies, who exhibit the fame oeconomy and 
manners. 

There are feveral fpecies of caterpillars who are real re- 
publicans, and whofe difcipline, manners, and genius, are 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 433 

equally diverfified as thofe of the inhabitants of different 
nations and climates. Some, like particular favages, con- 
ftruct a kind of hammocks, in which they take their victuals, 
repofe, and fpend their lives till the period of their tranf- 
formation. Others, like the Arabs and Tartars, conftruct 
and live in filken tents, and, after confuming the neighbour- 
ing herbage, they leave their former habitations, and encamp 
on frefh pafture. Under thefe tents they are not only pro- 
tected from the injuries of the weather, but they repofe in 
them when fick, or in a ftate of inactivity. They go out of 
their tents at particular times in queft of food, and often to 
confiderable diftances ; but they never lofe their way back. 
It is not by fight that they are directed with fo much cer- 
tainty to their abodes. Nature has furnifhed them with 
another guide for regaining their habitations. We pave our 
flreets with flones ; but the caterpillars cover all their roads 
with filken threads. Thefe threads make white tracks^ 
which are often more than a fixth of an inch wide. It is 
by following thefe iilken tracks, however complicated, that 
the caterpillars never mifs their nefls. If the road is broke 
by a man's finger drawn along it, or by any other accident, 
the caterpillars are greatly embarrafTed. They flop fudden- 
ly at the interrupted fpace, and exhibit every mark of fear 
and of diffidence. Here the march flops, till an individual, 
more bold or more impatient than his companions, traverfes 
the gap. In his pafiage, he leaves behind him a thread of 
filk, which ferves as a bridge or conductor to the next that 
follows. By the progrefiion of numbers, each of which 
fpins a thread, the breach is foon repaired. We cannot fup- 
pofe that thefe fiupid animals cover their roads to prevent 
their wandering. But they never wander, becaufe their 
roads are covered with filk. In this, as well as in many 
other inftances, Nature obliges animals to embrace the moft 
effectual means of felf-prefervatipn, and eyen of coqve» 



484 THE PHILOSOPHY 

niency, without their perceiving the utility of their own ope* 
rations. The caterpillars, whofe manners we have been de* 
fcribing, fpin almoft continually, becaufe they are continual- 
ly obliged to evacuate a filky matter, fecreted from their 
food by veffels deftined for that purpofe, and included in 
their inteftines. In obeying this call of Nature, they effec- 
tually fecure their retreat to their neft, and perhaps their 
exiftence. It may be faid, that caterpillars affociate for no 
other reafon but becaufe they are all produced at the fame 
time from eggs depofited near each other. But many other 
fpecies of caterpillars, who are brought to life in the very 
fame circumftances, never affociate or a& in concert in the 
performance of any mutual labour. The filk-worms afford 
a fimilar example. It is true, they fpontaneoufly remain 
affembled in the fame place, which is of great advantage to 
manufacture. But the individuals of other fpecies difperfe 
immediately after birth, and never re-unite. Spiders, when 
newly hatched, begin with fpinning a web in common ; but 
they foon terminate this affociation by devouring one another. 

As caterpillars do not engender till they arrive at the but- 
terfly ftate, their affociations have no refpect to the rearing 
or education of young. Self-prefervation and individual 
conveniency are the only bonds of their union. A perfect 
equality reigns among them, without any d inunction of fex, 
or even of fize. Each takes his fliare of the common labour-, 
and the whole fociety, which conftitutes but one family, is 
the genuine iffue of the fame mother. 

The affociation and oeconomy of the common ants merit 
fome attention. With wonderful induftry and activity they 
collect materials for the conftruction of their neft. They 
unite in numbers, and affift each other in excavating the 
earth, and in tranfporting to their habitation bits of ftraw, 
fmall pieces of wood, and other fubftances of a fimilar kind, 
which they employ in lining and fupporting their fubterra- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. , 4S5 

neous galleries. The form of their neft or hill is fomewhat 
conical, and, of courfe, the water, when it rains, runs ealily 
off, without penetrating their abode. Under this hill there 
are many galleries or paffages which communicate with each 
other, and refemble the ftreets of a fmall city. 

The ants not only affociate for the purpofe of conftruct- 
ing a common habitation, but for cherifhing and protecting 
their offspring. Every perfon muft have often obferved, 
when part of a neft is fuddenly expofed, their extreme fo- 
licitude for the prefervation of their chryfalids or nymphs, 
which often exceed the fize of the animals themfelves. 
With amazing dexterity and quicknefs the ants tranfport 
their nymphs into the fubterraneous galleries of the neft, 
and place them beyond the reach of any common danger. 
The courage and fortitude with which they defend their 
young is no lefs aftonifhing. The body of an ant was cut 
through the middle, and, after fuffering this cruel treatment, 
fo ftrong was its parental affection, with its head, and one 
half of the body, it carried off eight or ten nymphs. They 
go to great diftances in fearch of provifions. Their roads, 
which are often winding and involved, all terminate in the 
neft. 

The wifdom and forefight of the ants have been celebrat- 
ed from the remoteft antiquity. It has been aflerted and be- 
lieved, for near three thoufand years, that they lay up maga- 
zines of provifions for the winter, and that they even cut off 
the germ of the grain to prevent it from fhooting. But the? 
ancients were never famed for accurate refearches into the 
nature and operations of infects. Thefe fuppofed magazines 
could be of no ufe to the ants ; for, like the marmots and 
dormice, they fleep during the winter. A very moderate 
degree of cold is fufficient to render them torpid. In fact, 
it is now well known that they amafs no magazines of pro- 
vifions* The grains which, with fo much induftry and la- 



i36> thje piiilosopht 

bour, they carry to their neft, are not intended to be food td 
the animals, but, like the bits of ftraw and wood, are em- 
ployed as materials in the conflruclion of their habitation. 

2. Improper Societies. Many animals are gregarious, though 
they unite not with a view to any joint operation, fuch as 
conftructing common habitations, or mutually and indifcrim- 
inately nourifhing and protecting the offspring produced by 
the whole fociety. But, even among animals of this defcrip- 
tion, there are motives or bonds of aflbciation, and, in many 
inftances, they mutually affift and defend each other from 
hoflile affaults. 

The ox is a gregarious animal. When a herd of oxen are 
pafturing in a meadow, if a wolf makes his appearance, they 
inftantly form themfelves in battle array, and prefent their 
united horns to the enemy. This warlike difpofition often 
intimidates the wolf, and obliges him to retire. 

In winter, the hinds and young flags aflbciate, and form 
herds, which are always more numerous in proportion to 
the feverity of the weather. One bond of their fociety feems 
to be the advantage of mutual warmth derived from each 
other's bodies. In fpring they difperfe, and the hinds con- 
ceal themfelves in the forefls, where they bring forth their 
young. The young flags, however, continue together ; they 
love to browfe in company •, and neceffity alone forces them 
to feparate. 

The Count de Buffon reprefents flieep as flupid creatures, 
which are incapable of defending themfelves againfl the at- 
tacks of any rapacious animal. He maintains that the race 
mufl long ago have been extinguifhed, if man had not tak- 
en them under his immediate protection. But Nature has 
furnifhed every fpecies of animated beings with weapons 
and arts of defence which are fufficient for individual prefer- 
vation as well as the continuation of the kind. Sheep are 
endowed with a flrong aflbciating principle. When threat- 



OF NATURAL HrSTORY. * 43»7 

ened with an attack, like foldiers, they form a line of battle, 
and boldly face the enemy. In a natural ftate, the rams 
constitute one half of the flock. They join together and 
form the front. When prepared in this manner for repeU 
ling an affault, no lion or tiger can refift their united impet- 
uosity and force. 

A family of hogs, when in a ftate of natural liberty, never 
feparate till the young have acquired ftrength fufficient to 
repel the wolf. When a wolf threatens an attack, the whole 
family unite their forces, and bravely defend each other. 

The wild dogs of Africa hunt in packs, and carry on a 
perpetual war againft other rapacious animals. The jackals 
of Alia and Africa likewife hunt in packs. But, though ani- 
mals of this kind mutually afiift each other in killing prey, 
individual advantage is the chief, if not the only bond of 
this temporary union. 

Another kind of fociety is obfervable among domeftic ani- 
mals. Horfes and oxen, when deprived of companions of 
their own fpecies, aflociate, and difcover a vifible attachment. 
x\ dog and an ox, or a dog and a cow, when placed in cer- 
tain circumftances, though the fpecies are remote, and even 
hoftile, acquire a ftrong affection for each other. The fame 
kind of aflbciation takes place between dogs and cats, be- 
tween cats and birds, &c. If domeftic animals had a ftrong 
averfion to one another, man could not derive fo many ad- 
vantages from them. Horfes, oxen, fheep, &c. by browfing 
promifcuoufly together, augment and meliorate the common 
pafture. By living under the fame roof, and feeding in com- 
mon, this aflbciating principle is Strengthened and modified 
by habit, which often commences immediately after birth. 
A {ingle horfe confined in an inclofure, difcovers every mark 
of uneafinefs. He becomes reftlefs, neglects his food, and 
breaks through every fence in order to join his companions 

G <s g 



43$ THE PHILOSOPHY 

in a neighbouring field. Oxen and cows will not fatten in 
the fined pafture, if they are deprived of fociety. 

From the facts and remarks contained in this chapter, it 
ieems to be evident, that the principle of aflbciation in man, 
as well as in many other animals, is purely inftinc"tive ; and 
that this principle may be ftrengthened and modified by the 
numberlefs advantages derived from it, by imitation, by hab- 
it, and by many other circumftances. 



m NATURAL HISTORY. 439 

CHAPTER XVII, 

Of the Docility of Animals. 



O 



'F all animals capable of culture, man is the 
moft ductile. By inftruction, imitation, and habit, his mind 
may be moulded into any form. It may be exalted by fci- 
ence and art to a degree of knowledge, of which the vulgar 
and uninformed have not the moft diftant conception. The 
reverfe is melancholy. When the human mind is left to its 
own operations, and deprived of almoft every opportunity of 
focial information, it finks fo low, that it is nearly rivalled by 
the moft fagacious brutes. The natural fuperiority of man 
over the other animals, as formerly remarked, is a necefTary 
refult of the great number of inftincts with which his mind 
is endowed. Thefe inftincts are gradually unfolded, and 
produce, after a mature age, reafon, abflraction, invention, 
fcience. To confirm this truth, it would be fruitlefs to have 
recourfe to metaphyfical arguments, which generally miflead 
and bewilder human reafon. A diligent attention to the 
actual operations of Nature is fufiicient to convince any mind 
that is not warped and deceived by popular prejudice, the 
fetters of authorities, as they are called, whether ancient or 
modern, or by the vanity of fupporting preconceived opinions 
and favourite theories. Let any man reflect on the progrefs 
of children from birth to manhood. At firft, their inftincts 
are limited to obfcure fenfations, and to the performance of 
a few corporeal actions, to which they are prompted, or rath- 
er compelled, by certain ftimulating impulfes imneceflary to 
be mentioned. In a few months, their fenfations are per- 
ceived to be more diftinct, their bodily actions are better di- 
rected, new inftincts are unfolded, and they aflume a greatex* 



44>® THE PHILOSOPHY 

appearance of rationality and of mental capacity. When ftill 
farther advanced, and after they have acquired fome ufe of 
language, and fome knowledge of natural objects, they begin 
to reafon ; but their reafonings are feeble, and often pre- 
pofterous. In this manner they uniformly proceed in im- 
provement till they are actuated by the laft inftinct, at or 
near the age of puberty. After this period, they reafon with 
fome degree of perfpicuity and juftnefs. But, though their 
wjiole inftincts are now unfolded and in action, every power 
of their minds requires, previous to its utmoft exertions, to 
be agitated and polifhed by an examination of a thoufand 
natural and artificial objects, by the experience and obferva- 
tions of thofe with whom they afibciate, by public or private 
inftruction, by ftudying the writings of their predeceflbrs 
and contemporaries, and by their own reflections, till they ar- 
rive at the age of thirty-five. Previous to that period, much 
learning may have been acquired, much genius may have 
been exerted ; but, before that time of life, judgment, ab- 
straction, and the reafoning faculty, are not fully matured. 
This progrefs is the genuine operation of Nature, and the 
gradual fource of human fagacity and mental powers. The 
fame progrefs is to be obferved in the powers of the body. 
It arrives, indeed, fooner at perfection than the mind. But, 
If the progrefs of the mind greatly preceded that of the body, 
what a miferable and aukward figure would human beings, 
at an early period of their exiftence, exhibit ? Active and 
vigorous minds, ftimulated to command what the organs of 
their bodies were unable to obey, would produce peevilh- 
nefs, anger, regret, and every diftrefiing paflion. 

The bodies of men, though not fo ductile as their minds, 
are capable, when properly managed by early culture, of 
wonderful exertions. Men, accuftomed to live in polifhed 
focieties, have little or no idea of the activity, the courage, 
the patience, and the perfevering induftry of favages, when 



OF NATURAL HISTORY, 441 

fimply occupied in hunting wild animals for food to them- 
felves and their families. TKe hunger, the fatigue, the hard- 
fhips, which they not only endure, but defpife with fortitude, 
would amaze and terrify the imagination of any civilized Eu- 
ropean. 

Befide man, many other animals are capable of being in- 
ftructed. The ape-kind, and efpecially the larger fpecies of 
them, imitate the actions of men without any inftru&ion. 
This imitation they are enabled to perform with the greater 
exactnefs, on account of their ftrudture. The orang-outang, 
a native of the fouthern regions of Africa and India, is as tall 
and as ftrong as a man. He has no tail. His face is flat. 
His arms, hands, toes, and nails, are perfectly fimilar to ours. 
He walks conftantly on end ; and the features of his vifage 
make a near approach to thofe of the human countenance. 
He has a beard on his chin, and no more hair on his body 
than men have when in a ftate of nature. He knows how 
to bear arms, to attack his enemies with ftones, and to de- 
fend himfelf with a club. Of all the apes, the orang-outang, 
or wild man^ as he is called by the Indians, has the greateft 
refemblance to a man both in the ftructure of his body and 
in his manners. There are two fuppofed fpecies of orang- 
outang, a larger and a fmaller. The latter has been feveral 
times brought to Europe, and accurate defcriptions have 
been given both to his external and internal parts. But, 
with regard to the larger kind, who is faid to exceed the or- 
dinary ftature of man, we have nothing to rely on but the 
relations of travellers. Bontius, who was the chief Phyfician 
in Batavia, affirms exprefsly, that he faw, with admiration, 
feveral individuals of this fpecies walking on their two feet. 
Among others, he remarked a female, who feemed to have a 
fenfe of modefty, who covered her face with her hands when 
men approached her with whom fhe was unacquainted, who 
wept, groaned, and feemed to want nothing of humanity but 



442 THE PHILOSOPHY 

the faculty of fpeech*. Many other furprifing actions per* 
formed by this animal are recorded by different voyagers, 
which it is unneceiTary to repeat, efpecially as we have a fuf- 
ficient number of facts attefted by unequivocal evidence. 
The Count de Buftbn, with much probability, confiders what 
are called the large and fmall orang-outangs to be the fame 
fpecies of animals •, for thofe hitherto brought to Europe 
were very young, and had not acquired one half of their 
(iature. 

c The orang-outang,' fays Buffcn, c which I fa w, walked 
f always on two feet, even when carrying things of confider- 

* able weight. His air was melancholy, his movements meaf- 
« ured, his difpofiticns gentle, and very different from thofe 

< of other apes. He had neither the impatience of the Bar- 
s bary ape, the maiicioufnefs of the baboon, nor the extrav- 
fi agance of the monkeys. It may be alledged that he had 

* the benefit of induction •, but the apes, which I fhall com- 

< pare with him, were educated in the fame manner. Signs 
c and words were alone fufficient to make our orang-outang 

* act : But the baboon required a cudgel, and the other apes 
F a whip •, for none of them would obey without blows. I 

* have {een this animal prefent his hand to conduct the peo- 
F pie who came to vifit him, and walk as gravely along 
f with them as if he had formed a part of the company. I 

< have feen him fit down at a table, unfold his towel, wipe 
5 his lips, ufe a fpoon or a fork to carry the victuals to his 
f mouth, pour his liquor into a glafs, and make it touch that 
f of the perfon who drank along with him. When invited 
? to drink tea, he brought a cup and a faucer, placed them on 
f the table, put in fugar, poured out the tea, and allowed it 
f to cool before he drank it. All thefe actions he perform- 
f ed without any other inftigation than the figns or verbal or- 
f ders of his mafter, and often of his own accord. He did n© 

* jac. Eont. Hift, Nat. Ind. c?.p. 32, 



OF NATORAL HISTORY. 413 

injury to any perfon : He even approached company with 
circumfpeclion, and prefented himfelf as if he wanted to be 
careiTed. He was very fond of dainties, which every body 
gave him : And, as his breaft was difeafed, and he was 
afflicted with a teazing cough, this quantity of fweetmeats 
undoubtedly contributed to fhorten his life. He lived one 
fummer in Paris, and died in London the following winter. 
; He eat almoft every thing ; but preferred ripe and dried 
1 fruits to all other kinds of food. He drank a little wine ; 
1 but fpontaneouily left it for milk, tea, or other mild li- 
quor s V 

M. de la BrolTe purchafed two orang-outangs from a Ne- 
gro, whofe age exceeded not twelve months. l Thefe ani- 
mals/ he remarks, i have the inftinc*l of fitting at table 
c like men. They eat every kind of food without diftinc- 
tion. They ufe a knife, a fork, or a fpoon, to cut or lay 
« hold of what is put upon their plate. They drink wine 
and other liquors. We carried them abroad. At table, 
when they wanted any thing, they made themfelves be un*» 
derftood by the cabin-boy : And, when the boy refufed to 
give them what they demanded, they fometimes became en- 
raged, feized him by the arm, bit, and threw him down. 
The male was feized with licknefs on the road. He made 
' himfelf be attended as a human being. He was even twice 
I bled in the right arm : And, whenever he found himfelf 
c afterwards in the fame condition, he held out his arm to 

* be bled, as if he knew that he had formerly received bene- 
c lit from that operation/ 

"We are informed by Francis Pyrard, e that, in the pro- 
« vince of Sierra-Leona, there is a fpecies of animals called 

* baris, (the orang-outang,) who are ftrong and well limbed, 

* and fo induftrious, that, when properly trained and fed, 
they work like fervants ; that they generally walk on the 

* Buffon, vol. 8, page 86. tranf. 



444 THE PHILOSOPHY 

• two hind-feet ; that they pound any fubftances in a mor- 

* tar ; that they go to bring water from the river in fmall 
« pitchers, which they carry full on their heads. But, when 
« they arrive at the door, if the pitchers are not foon taken 
s off, they allow them to fall -, and, when they perceive the 
« pitcher overturned and broken, they weep and lament*.' 
With regard to the education of thefe animals, the teftimony 
of Schoutton correfponds with that of Pyrard. « They are 
» taken,' fays he, * with fnares, taught to walk on their hind- 
« feet, and to ufe their fore-feet as hands in performing dif- 

* ferent operations, as rinfing glafles, carrying drink round 

* the company, turning a fpit,' &c. f Guat informs us, that 
he * faw at Java a very extraordinary ape. It was a female. 
« She was very tall, and often walked erect on her hind-feet. 
« On thefe occalions, fhe concealed with her hands the parts 

< which diftinguifh the fex. She made her bed very neatly 
« every day, lay upon her fide, and covered herfelf with the 
« bed-clothes. When her head ached, fhe bound it up with 

< her handkerchief ; and it was amufing to fee her thus 
« hooded in bed. I could relate many other little articles 

* which appeared to be extremely fingular. But I admired 
« them not fo much as the multitude ; becaufe, as I knew the 

* defign of bringing her to Europe to be exhibited as a £hew, 

* I was inclined to think that fhe had been taught many of 

* thefe monkey tricks, which the people confidered as being 
' natural to the animal. She died in our fhip, about the lati- 
« tude of the Cape of Good Hope. The figure of this ape 

* had a very great refemblance to that of man};.' 

We have now enumerated the principal facts regarding 
this extraordinary animal, which have been related by voyag- 
ers of credit, and by thofe who have feen and examined him in 

* Voyages de Francois Pyrard, torn. a. page 331. 
f Voyages de Schoutton aux Indes Orientale*. 
t Voyages de Fran* le Guat, torn. 2. page 9 0, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 445 

Europe ; and (hall only remark, that, notwithstanding the 
great fimilarity of his ftru£hire and organs to thofe of the hu- 
man fpecies, his genius and talents feetn to be very limited. The 
form of his body enables him to imitate every human action. 
But, though he has the organs of fpeech, he is deftitute of 
articulate language. If, however, he were domefticated, and 
proper pains beftowed for inftructing him, he might unquef- 
tionably be taught to articulate. But, fuppofing this point to 
be obtained, if he remained incapable of reflection, if he was 
unable to comprehend the meaning of words, or to difcover 
by his expreflions a degree of intellect greatly fuperior to 
that of the brute creation, which I imagine would be the cafe, 
he could never, as fome authors have held forth, be exalted 
to the diftinguifhed rank of human beings. 

Of all quadrupeds, of whofe hiftory and manners we have 
any proper knowledge, the elephant is the moft remarkable 
both for docility and underftanding. Though his fize is 
enormous, and his members rude and difproportioned, which 
give him, at firft fight, the afpect of dullnefs and ftupidity, 
his genius is great, and his fagacious manners, and his fedate 
and collected deportment, are almoft incredible. He is the 
largeft and ftrongeft of all terreftrial animals. Though 
naturally brave, his difpofitions are mild and peaceable. He 
is an afTociating animal, and feldom appears alone in the for- 
efts. When in danger, or when they undertake a depreda- 
tory expedition into cultivated fields, the elephants afiemble 
in troops. The oldeft takes the lead ; the next in feniority 
brings up the rear ; and the young and the feeble occupy 
the center. In the forefts and folitudes they move with lefs 
precaution ; but never feparate fo far afunder as to render 
them incapable of affording each other mutual afiiftance 
when danger approaches. A troop of elephants conftitutes 
a moft formidable band. Wherever they march, the foreft 
feems to fall before them. Thev bear down the branches 

H h h 



446 THE- PHILOSOPHY 

upon which they feed ; and, if they enter into an inclofure, 
they fooa deftroy all the labours of the huibandman. Their 
invasions are the more tremendous, as there is hardly any 
means of repelling them ; for, to attack a troop, when thus 
united, would require a little army. It is only when one or 
two elephants happen to linger behind the reft, that the hun- 
ters dare exert their art and ingenuity in making an attack ; 
for any attempt to difturb the troop would certainly prove 
fatal to the affailants. When an infuit is offered, the ele- 
phants inftantly move forward againft the offender, tols him in 
the air with their tufks, and afterwards trample him to pieces 
under their feet, or rather pillars of flefh and bone. Let not 
the character of this noble and majeftic animal, however, be 
mifreprefented. With force and dignity he relents every 
affront ; but, when not difturbed by pctulence or actual inju- 
ry, he never (hows an hoftile intention cither againft man or 
any other animal. Elephants live entirely on vegetables, and 
have no thirft for blood. Such is their focial and generous 
difpofition, that, when an individual chances to meet with a 
luxurious fpot of pafture, he immediately calls to his com- 
panions, and invites them to partake of his good fortune. 

The elephant pofTeffes all the fenfes in perfection : But, 
in the fenfe of touching, he excells all the brute creation. 
His trunk is the chief inftrument of this fenfe. In an ele- 
phant of fourteen feet high, the trunk is about eight feet 
long, and five feet and an half in circumference at the bafe. 
It is a large flefh y tube, divided through its whole extent by 
a feptum or partition. It is capable of motion in every di- 
rection. The animal can fhorten or lengthen it at pleafure. 
It anfwers every purpofe of a hand ; for it grafps large ob- 
jects with great force, and its extremity can lay hold of a fix- 
pence, or even of a pin. The trunk of the elephant affords 
him the fame means of addrefs as the ape. It ferves the pur- 
pofes of an arm and a hand. By this inftrument, the ele- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 447 

phant conveys large or fmall bodies to his mouth, places 
them on his back, embraces them faft, or throws them forci- 
bly to a diftance. In a frate-of nature and perfect freedom, 
the difpofitions of the elephant are neither ianguinary nor 
ferocious. They are gentle creatures, and never exert their 
ftrength, or employ their weapons, but in defending them- 
selves or protecting their companions. Even when deprived 
of the instruction of men, they poffefs the fagacity of the 
beaver, the addrefs of the ape, and the acutenefs of the dog. 
To thefe mental talents are added the advantages of amaz- 

o 

ing bodily ftrength, and the experience and knowledge he 
acquires by living at lean: two centuries. With his irunk he 
tears up trees. By a pufh of his body he makes a breach 
in a wall. To this prodigious ftrength he adds courage, 
prudence, and coolnefs of deportment. As he never makes 
an attack but when he receives an injury, he is univerfally 
beloved -, and all animals refpect, bccaufe none have any rc-af- 
on to fear him. In all ages, men have entertained a venera- 
tion for this moft magnificent and fagacious of terrettrial 
creatures. The ancients regarded him as a miracle of Nature, 
and he is, in reality, one of her greateft efforts. But they 
have greatly exaggerated his faculties. Without hesitation, 
they have afcribed to him high intellectual powers and moral 
virtues. Plinv, iElian, Plutarch, and other authors of a 
more modern date, have beftowed on the elephant not only 
rational manners, but an innate religion, a kind of daily ador- 
ation of the fun and moon, the ufe of ablution before worfhip, 
a fpirit of divination, piety toward heaven and their fellow 
creatures, whom they affift at the approach of death, and, af- 
ter their deceafe, bedew them with tears, aud cover their 
bodies with earth. 

When tamed and inftructed by man, the elephant is fcon 
rendered the mildeft and mod obedient of all domeftic 
animals. He loves his keeper, carefTcs him, and anticipates 



448 THE PHILOSOPHY 

his commands. He learns to comprehend figns, and even to 
underftand the expreffion of founds. He diftinguifhes the 
tones of command, of anger, and of approbation, and regu- 
lates his actions by his perceptions. The voice of his maf- 
ter he never miftakes. His orders are executed with alacri- 
ty, but without any degree of precipitation. His movements 
are always meafured and fedate, and his character feems to 
correfpond with the gravity of his mafs. To accommodate 
thofe who mount him, he readily learns to bend his knees. 
With his truuk he falutes his friends, ufes it for raifing bur- 
dens, and afiifts in loading himfelf. He loves to be clothed, 
and feems to be proud of gaudy trappings. In the fouthern 
regions, he is employed in drawing waggons, ploughs, and 
chariots. « I was eye-witnefs,' fays P. Philippe, ' to the fol- 

* lowing facts. At Goa, there are always fome elephants em- 

* ployed in the building of fhips. I one day went to the fide 

* of the river, near which a large fhip was building in the 
« city of Goa, where there is a large area filled with beams 
« for that purpofe. Some men tie the ends of the heavieft 
1 beams with a rope, which is handed to the elephant, who 
« carries it to his mouth, and, after twitting it round his trunk, 
c draws it, without any conductor, to the place where the fhip 

< is building, though it had only once been pointed out to 

* him. He fometimes drew beams fo large that more than 
« twenty men would have been unable to move. But, what 
c furprifed me ftill more, when other beams obftructed the 
€ road, he elevated the ends of his own beams, that they might 

< run eafily over thofe which lay in his way. Could the moft 
« enlightened man do more *?'. When at work, the elephant 
draws equally, and, if properly managed, never turns reftive. 
The man who conducts the animal generally rides on his 
neck, and employs a hooked iron rod, or bodkin, with which 
he pricks the head or fides of the ears, in order to pufh the" 

* Voyage d'Oricnt. page 367. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY, U9 

Creature forward, or to make him turn. But words are com- 
monly fufficient. The attachment and affection of the ele- 
phant are fometimes fo ftrong and durable that he has been 
known to die of grief, when, in an unguarded paroxyfm of 
rage, he had killed his guide. 

Before the invention of gun-powder, elephants were em- 
ployed in war by the African and Afiatic nations. * From 
s time immemorial,' fays Schouten, ■ the Kings oi Ceylon, 
c of Pegu, and of Aracan, have ufed elephants in war. Nak- 
* ed fabres were tied to their trunks, and on their backs 
6 were fixed fmall wooden caftles, which contained five 
< or fix men armed with javelins, and other weapons *.' 
The Greeks and Romans, however, foon became acquainted 
with the nature of thefe monftrous warriors. They opened 
their ranks to let the animals pafs, and directed all their 
weapons, not againft the elephants, but their conductors. 
Since fire has now become the element of war, and the chief 
instrument of deftruc"tion, elephants, who are terrified both 
at the flame and the noife, would be more dangerous than 
ufeful in our modern battles. The Indian Kings, however, 
frill arm elephants in their wars. In Cochin, and other parts 
of Malabar, all the warriors who fight not on foot are mount- 
ed on elephants f . The fame practice obtains in Tonquin, 
Siam, and Pegu. In thefe countries, the kings and nobles at 
public festivals are always preceded and followed by nume- 
rous trains of elephants, pompoufly adorned with pieces of 
fhining metal, aud clothed with rich garments. Their tufks. 
are ornamented with rings of gold and filver ; their ears and 
cheeks are painted with various colours ; they are crowned 
with garlands ; and a number of fmall bells are fixed to dif- 
ferent parts of their bodies. They delight in gaudy attire ; 
for they are chearful and carefling in proportion to the nunv 

* Voyage de Schouten, page 32. 
f Thevenot, torn. 3. page 261. 



450 THE PHILOSOPHY 

ber and fplendour of their ornaments. The Afiatics, who 
were very anciently civilized, perceiving the fagacity and do- 
cility of the elephant, educated him in a fyftematic manner, 
and modified his difpofitions according to their own man- 
ners, and the ufeful labours in which his ftrength and dexte- 
terity could be employed. 

A domeftic elephant performs more labour than could be 
accompiiihed by fix horfes •, but he requires much care and 
a great deal of food. He is fubjedt. to be over-heated, 
and muft be led to the water twice or thrice a-day. He 
eafily learns to bathe himfelf. "With his trunk he fucks up 
large quantities of water, carries it to his mouth, drinks part 
of it, and, by elevating his trunk, makes the remainder run 
over every part of his body. To give fome idea of the la- 
bour he performs, and the docility of his difpofitions, it is 
worthy of remark, that, in India, all the bales, facks, and 
tuns tranfported from one place to another, are carried by 
elephants. They carry burdens on their bodies, their necks, 
their tufks, and even in their mouths, by giving them the end 
of a rope, which they hold faft with their teeth. Uniting 
fagacity with ftrength, they never break or injure any thing 
committed to their charge. From the margins of the riv- 
ers, they put weighty bundles into boats without wetting 
them, lay them down gently, and arrange them where they 
ought to be placed. When the goods are difpofed as their 
matters direct, they examine with their trunks whether the 
articles are properly flowed •, and, if a cafk or tun rolls, 
they go fpontaneoufly in queft of ftones to' prop and render 
it firm. 

In the elephant, the fenfe of fmelling is acute, and he is 
pafiionately fond of odoriferous flowers, which he collects 
one by one, forms them into a nofegay, and, after gratifying 
&is nofe 5 conveys them to his mouth. 



OF NATURAL H1STORT. 451 

In India, the domeftic elephants, to whom the ufe of water 
is as necefTary as that of air, are allowed every poffible con- 
veniency for bathing themfelves. The animal goes into a 
river till the water reaches his belly. He then lies down on 
one fide, fills his trunk feveral times, and dexteroufly throws 
the water on fuch parts as happen to be uncovered. The 
mafter, after cleaning and currying one fide, defires the ani- 
mal to turn to the other, which command he obeys with the 
greateft alacrity ; and, when both fides have been properly 
cleaned, he comes out of the river, and ftands fome time on 
the bank to dry himfelf. The elephant, though his mafs be 
enormous, is an excellent fwimmer ; and, of courfe, he is of 
great ufe in the pafTage of rivers. When employed on oc- 
ca&ons of this kind, he is often loaded with two pieces of 
cannon which admit three or four pound balls, befide great 
quantities of baggage and feveral men fixed to his ears and 
his tail. When thus heavily loaded, he fpontaneoufly enters 
the river and fwims over with his trunk elevated in the air 
for the benefit of refpiration. He is fond of wine and ar- 
dent fpirits. By fhowing him a vefTel filled with any of 
thefe liquors, and promifing him it as a reward of his labours, 
he is induced to exert the greateft efforts, and to perform 
the moll painful talks. The elephant, as we are informed 
by M. de Buffey, quoted by the Count de BufFon, is employ- 
ed in dragging artillery over mountains, and, on thefe occa- 
fions, his fagacity and docility are confpicuous. Horfes or 
oxen, when yoked to a cannon, make all their exertions to 
pull it up a declivity. But the elephant pufhes the breach 
forward with his front, and, at each effort, fupports the car™ 
riage with his knee, which he places againft the wheel. He 
feems to underftand what his comack, or conductor, fays 
to him. When his conductor wants him to perform any 
painful labour, he explains the nature of the operation, and 
gives the reafons which fhould induce him to obey. If the 



452 THE PHILOSOPHY 

elephant fhows a reluctance to the talk, the cornack promif- 
es to give him wine, arrack, or any other article that he is 
fond of, and then the animal exerts his utmoft efforts. But 
to break any promife made to him is extremely dangerous. 
Many cornacks have fallen victims to indifcretions of this 
kind. « At Dehan,' fays M. de BmTey, < an elephant, from 

* revenge, killed his cornack. The man's wife, who beheld 

* the dreadful fcene, took her two children, and threw them 
c at the feet of the enraged animal, faying, Since you have fain 

* my hujband) take my life alf, as well as that cf my children. 
« The elephant inftantly flopped, relented, and, as if flung 

* with remorfe, took the oldeft boy in its trunk, placed him 
c on its neck, adopted him for his cornack, and would never 

* allow any other perfon to mount it.' 

From the members of the Royal Academy of Sciences, 
we learn fome curious facts with regard to the manners of 
the Verfailles elephant. This elephant, they remark, feem- 
ed to know when it was mocked, and remembered the affront 
till it had an opportunity of revenge. A man deceived it, 
by pretending to throw fome food into its mouth. The ani- 
mal gave him fuch a blow with its trunk as knocked him 
down, and broke two of his ribs. A painter wanted to draw 
the animal in an unufual attitude, with its trunk elevated, 
and its mouth open. The painter's fervant, to make it re- 
main in this pofition, threw fruits into its mouth, but gener- 
ally made only a faint of throwing them. This conduct en- 
raged the elephant ; and, as if it knew that the painter was 
the caufe of this teazing impertinence, inftead of attacking 
the fervant, it eyed the mafter, and fquirted at him from its 
trunk fuch a quantity of water as fpoiled the paper on which 
he was drawing. This elephant commonly made lefs ufe 
of its ftrength than its addrefs.' It loofed, with great eafe 
and coolnefs, the buckle of a large double leathern ftrap, 
with which its leg was fixed; and, as the fervants had 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 453 

Wrapped the buckle round with a fmall cord, and tied many 
knots upon it, the creature, with much deliberation, loofed 
the whole, without breaking either the ftrap or the cord. 

It is remarked by le P. Vincent Marie, that the elephant, 
when in a domeftic ftate, is highly efteemed for his gentle- 
nefs, docility, and friendfhip to his governour. When def- 
tined to the immediate fervice of princes, he is fenfible of 
his good fortune, and maintains a gravity of demeanour cor- 
refponding to the dignity of his fituation. But, if, on the 
contrary, lefs honourable labours are affigned to him, he 
grows melancholy, frets, and evidently difcovers that he is 
humbled and deprefTed. He is fond of children, carefTes 
them, and appears to difcern the innocence of their manners. 
The Dutch voyagers relate*, that by giving elephants what 
is agreeable to them, they are foon rendered perfectly tame 
and fubmiflive. They are fo fagacious, that they may be 
faid to be deftitute of the ufe of language only. They are 
proud and ambitious ; and they are fo grateful for good ufage, 
that, as a mark of refpecl, they bow their heads in pafling 
houfes where they have been hofpitably received. They al- 
low themfeives to be led and commanded by a child ; but 
they love to be praifed and carefTed. When a wild elephant 
is taken, the hunters tie his feet, and one of them accofts 
and falutes him, makes apologies for binding him, protefts 
that no injury is intended, tells him, that, in his former con- 
dition, he frequently wanted food, but that, henceforward, 
he fhall be well treated, and that every promife fhall be per- 
formed to him. This foothing harangue is no fooner fin- 
ifhed than the elephant placidly follows the hunterf. 
From this fact, however, we muft not conclude that the ele- 
phant underftands language, but that, like the dog, he has a 
ftrong difcerning faculty. He diftinguiihes efteem from con- 

* Voyage de la Compagnie des Indes de Hollande, torn. i. page 413. 
f Voyage d'Orient, du P. Phillippe, paga 366. 

I I i 



454 THE PHILOSOPHY 

i 

tempt, friendfhip from hatred, and many other emotions 
which are expreffed by human geftures and features. For 
this reafon, the elephant is more eafily tamed by mildnefs 
than by blows. 

* I have frequently remarked,' fays Edward Terry*, c that 
c the elephant performs many actions which feem to proceed 
c more from reafon than from inftinct. He does every thing 
'that his matter camnfands. If he wants to terrify any per- 
4 fon, he runs upon him with every appearance of fury, and, 
c when he comes near, ftops fhort, without doing the perfon 
4 the fmalleft injury. When the mailer choofes to affront any 
« man, he tells the elephant, who immediately collects water 
4 and mud with his trunk, and fquirts it upon the object 
c pointed out to him. The Mogul keeps fome elephants 

* who ferve as executioners to criminals condemned to death. 

* When the conductor orders one of thefe animals to dif- 
c patch the poor criminals quickly, he tears them to pieces in 

< a moment with his feet : But, if defired to torment them 
1 flowly, he breaks their bones one after another, and makes 

< them fuffer a punifhment as cruel as that of the wheel/ 

Next to the elephant, the dog feems to be the moft docile 
quadruped. A wild dog is a paflionate, ferocious, and fan- 
guinary animal. But, after he is reduced to a domeftic ftate, 
thefe hoftile difpofitions are fupprefled, and they are fuc- 
ceeded by a warm attachment, and a perpetual defire of 
pleafing. The perceptions and natural talents of the dog are 
acute. When thefe are aided by inflruction, the fagacity he 
difcovers, and the actions he is taught to perform, often ex- 
cite our wonder. Thofe animals which man has taken un- 
der his 'immediate protection are taught to perform artificial 
actions, or have their natural inftincts improved, by three 
modes of inftruction, punifhment, reward, and imitation. 
More ductile in his nature than moft other animals, the dog, 
* Terry's Voyage to the Eaft Indies, page 15, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 455 

not only receives instruction with rapidity, but accommodates 
his behaviour and deportment to the manners and habits of 
thofe who command him. He affumes the very tone of the 
family in which he Yefides. Eager, at all times, to pleafe his 
mafter, or his friends, he furioufly repels beggars ; becaufe 
he probably, from their drefs, conceives them to be either 
thieves, or competitors for food. 

Though every dog, as well as every man, is naturally a 
hunter, the dexterity of both is highly improved by expe- 
rience and inftruction. The varieties of dogs, by frequent 
intermixtures with thofe of different climates, and perhaps 
with foxes and wolves, are fo great, and their inftincts are 
fo much diversified, that, even though they produce with 
each other, we fhould be apt to regard them as different fpe- 
cies. What a difference between the natural difpofitions of 
the fhepherd's dog, the fpaniel, and the grey-hound ? The 
fhepherd's dog, independently of all inftruction, feems to be 
endowed by Nature with an innate attachment to the prefer- 
vation of fheep and cattle. His docility is likewife fo great, 
that he not only learns to underftand the language and com- 
mands of the fhepherd, and obeys them with faithfulnefs and 
alacrity, but, when at diftances beyond the reach of his mas- 
ter's voice, he often flops, looks back, and recognifes the ap- 
probation or disapprobation of the fhepherd by the mere 
waving of his hand. He reigns at the head of a flock, and 
is better heard than the voice of his mafter. His vigilance 
and activity produce order, difcipline, and fafety. Sheep 
and cattle are peculiarly Subjected to his management, whom 
he prudently conducts and protects, and never employs force 
againft them, except for the prefervation of peace and good 
order. But, when the flock committed to his charge is at- 
tacked by the fox, or wolf, or other rapacious animals^ he 
makes a full difplay of his courage and fagacity. In Situa- 
tions of this kind, both his natural and acquired talents ars 



456 THE PHILOSOPHY 

exerted. Three fhepherds dogs are faid to be a match for a 
bear, and four for a lion, 

Every perfon knows the docility and fagacity of fuch dogs 
as are employed in conducting blind mendicants. Johannes 
Faber, as quoted by Mr. Ray, informs us, that he knew a 
blind beggar who was led through the ftreets of Rome by a 
middle fized dog. This dog, befide leading his mafter in 
fuch a manner as to protect him from all danger, learned to 
diftinguifh not only the ftreets, but the houfes where his 
mafter was accuftomed to receive alms twice or thrice a-week. 
Whenever the animal came to any of thefe ftreets, with 
which he was well acquainted, he would not leave it till a 
call had been made at every houfe where his mafter was 
ufually fuccefsful in his petitions. When the beggar began 
to aik alms, the dog, being wearied, lay down to reft ; but 
the mafter was no fooner ferved or refufed, than the dog 
rofe fpontaneoufly, and, without either order or fign, pro- 
ceeded to the other houfes where the beggar generally re- 
ceived fome gratuity. I obferved, fays he, not without plea- 
fure and furprife, that, when a halfpenny was thrown from a 
window, fuch was fche fagacity and attention of this dog, that 
he went about in queft of it, lifted it from the ground with 
his mouth, and put it into his mafter's hat. Even when 
bread was thrown down, the animal would not tafte it, un- 
lefs he received a portion of it from the hand of his mafter. 
Without any other instruction than imitation, a maftiff, 
when accidentally fhut out from a houfe which his mafter 
frequented, uniformly rung the bell for admittance. Dogs 
can be taught to go to market with money, to repair to a 
known butcher, and to carry home the meat in fafety. 
They can be taught to dance to mufic, and to fearch for and 
find any thing that is loft*. 

* For thefe, and many other inftances of the fagacity and docility of the dog, 
the reader may confult Synopfis Quadrupedum a Joanne Raio, p 6. &c 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 457 

There is a dog at prefent belonging to a grocer in Edin- 
burgh, who has for fome time amufed and aftonifhed the 
people in the neighbourhood. A man who goes through 
the ftreets ringing a bell and felling penny pies, happened 
one day to treat this dog with a pye. The next time he 
heard the pyeman's bell, he ran to him with impetuofity, 
feized him by the coat, and would not fufrer him to pafs. 
The pyeman, who underftood what the animal wanted, fhow- 
ed him a penny, and pointed to his mafter, who flood in the 
ftreet-door, and faw what was going on. The dog immedi- 
ately fupplicated his mafter by many humble geftures and 
looks. The mafter put a penny into the dog's mouth, which 
he inftantly delivered to the pyeman, and received his pye. 
This traffick between the pyeman and the grocer's dog has 
been daily practifed for months paft, and ftill continues. 

Dogs, horfes, and even hogs, by rewards and punifhments, 
and, I am afraid, often by cruelty, may be taught to perform 
actions, as we have frequently feen in public exhibitions, 
which are truly aftonifhing. But of thefe.we muft not enter 
into any detail. 

With regard to the horfe, the gentlenefs of his difpoh% 
tions, and the docility of his temper, are fo well and fo uni- 
verfally known, that it is unnecefTary to dwell long upon the 
fubject. To give fome idea of what inftruclion horfes re- 
ceive when in a domeftic ftate, we mail mention fome traits 
of their form and manners when under no reftraints. In 
South America the horfes have multiplied prodigioufly, and, 
in that thinly inhabited country, live in perfect freedom. 
They fly from the prefence of man. They wander about in 
troops, and devour, in immenfe meadows, the productions of 
a perpetual fpring. "Wild horfes are ftronger, lighter, and 
more nervous, than the generality of thofe which are kept 
in a domeftic ftate. They are by no means ferocious. 
Though fuperior in ftrength to raoft animals, they never 



458 THE PHILOSOPHY 

make an attack. When aflaulted, however, they either dif- 
dain the enemy, or ftrike him dead with their heels. They 
aflbciate in troops from mutual attachment, and neither 
make war with other animals nor among themfelves. As 
their appetites are moderate, and they have a few objects to 
excite envy or difcord, they live in perpetual peace. Their 
manners are gentle, and their tempers focial. Their force 
and ardour are rendered confpicuous only by marks of emu- 
lation. They are anxious to be foremoft in the courfe, to 
brave danger in croffing a river, or in leaping a ditch or pre- 
cipice *, and, it is faid, that thofe horfes which are moft ad- 
venturous and expert in thefe natural exercifes, are, when 
domefticated, the moft generous, mild, and tractable. 

Wild horfes are taken notice of by feveral of the ancients. 
Herodotus mentions white wild horfes on the banks of the 
Hypanis in Scythia. He likewife tells us, that, in the north- 
ern part of Thrace, beyond the Danube, there were wild 
horfes covered all over with hair five inches in length. The 
wild horfes in America are the offspring of domeftic horfes 
originally tranfported thither from Europe by the Spaniards. 
The author' of the hiftory of the Buccaneers* informs us, 
that troops of horfes, fometimes confifting of 500, are fre- 
quently met with in the ifland of St. Domingo j that, when 
they fee a man, they all ftop ; and that one of their number 
approaches to a certain diftance, blows through his noftrils, 
takes flight, and is inftantly followed by the whole troop. He 
defcribes them as having grofs heads and limbs, and long 
necks and ears. The inhabitants tame them with eafe, and 
then train them to labour. In order to take them, gins of 
ropes are laid in the places where they are known to frequent. 
When caught by the neck, they foon ftrangle themfelves, 
unlefs fome perfon arrive in time to difentangle them. They 
are tied to trees by the body and limbs, and are left in that 
* L'Hift. des Avanteur, Flibuftiers, torn. I. page no. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 459 

iituation two days without victuals or drink. This treat- 
ment is generally fufficient to render them more tradable, 
and they foon become* as gentle as if they had never been 
wild. Even when any. of thefe horfes, by accident, regain 
their liberty, they never refume their favage flate, but know 
their maflers, and allow themfelves to be approached and re- 
taken. 

From thefe, and iimilar facts, it may be concluded, that 
the difpofitions of horfes are gentle, and that they are natur- 
ally difpofed to affbciate with man. After they are tamed 
they never forfake the abodes of men. On the contrary, 
they are anxious to return to the ftable. The fweets of hab- 
it feem to fupply all they have loft by flavery. When fa- 
tigued, the manfion of repofe is full of comfort. They fmell 
it at confiderable diftances, can diftinguifh it in the midft of 
populous cities, and feem uniformly to prefer bondage to 
liberty. By fome attention and addrefs colts are firft ren- 
dered tractable. When that point is gained, by different 
modes of management, the docility of the animal is improv- 
ed, and they foon learn to perform with alacrity the various 
labours affigned to them. The domeftication of the horfe 
is perhaps the nobleft acquhltion from the animal world 
which has ever been made by the genius, the art, and the in- 
duftry of man. He is taught to partake of the dangers and 
fatigues of war, and feems to enjoy the glory of victory. He 
encounters death with ardour and with magnanimity. He de- 
lights in the tumult of arms, and attacks the enemy with re- 
folution and alacrity. It is not in perils and conflicts alone 
that the horfe co-operates with the difpofitions of his mafter. 
He even feems to participate of human pleafures and amufe- 
ments. He delights in the chafe and the tournament, and 
his eyes fparkle with emulation in the courfe. Though bold 
and intrepid, however, he does not allow himfelf to be hur- 
ried on by a furious ardour. On proper occaiions, he re- 



460 THE PHILOSOPHY 

prefles his movements, and knows how to check the natural 
fire of his temper. He not only yields to the hand, but 
feems to confult the inclination of his rider. Always obe- 
dient to the impreflions he receives, he flies or flops, and 
regulates his motions folely by the will of his mafter. 

Mr. Ray, who wrote about the end of laft century, in- 
forms us, that he had feen a horfe who danced to mufic, 
who, at the command of his mafter, affected to be lame, who 
ftmulated death, lay motionlefs with his limbs extended, and 
allowed himfelf to be dragged about, till fome words were 
pronounced, when he inf-antly fprung upon his feet*. Facts 
of this kind would fcarcely receive credit, if every perfon 
were not now acquainted with the wonderful docility of the 
horfes educated by Aftley, and other public exhibitors of 
horfemanfhip. In exhibitions of this kind, the docility and 
prompt obedience of the animals deferve more admiration 
than the dexterous feats of the men. 

Animals of the ox -kind, in a domeftic ftate, are dull and 
phlegmatic. Their fenfibility and talents feem to be very 
limited. But we fhould not pronounce rafhly concerning 
the genius and powers of animals in a country where their 
education is totally neglected. In all the fouthern provinces 
of Africa and Alia, there are many wild bifons, or bunched 
oxen, which are taken when young and tamed. They are 
foon taught to fubmit, without refiftance, to all kinds of do- 
meftic labour. They become fo tractable, that they are 
managed with as much eafe as our horfes. The voice of 
their mafter is alone fufficient to make them obey, and to 
direct their courfe. They are fhod, curried, carefTed, and 
fupplied abundantly with the beft food. When managed in 
this manner, thefe animals appear to be different creatures 
from our oxen. The oxen of the Hottentots are favourite 
dcmeftics, companions in amufements, affiftants in ail labori- 

* Raii Synopfis Animalium Quadrupeduna, page io, 



CF NATURAL HISTORY. 461 

ous exercifes, and participate the habitation, the bed, and 
the table of their matters. As their nature is improved by 
the gentlenefs of their education, by the kind treatment they 
receive, and the perpetual attention beftowed on them, 
they acquire fenfibility and intelligence, and perform actions 
which one would not expect from them. The Hottentots 
train their oxen to war. In all their armies there are con- 
fiderable troops of thefe oxen, which are eafily governed, and 
are let loofe by the chief when a proper opportunity occurs. 
They inftantly dart with impetuofity upon the enemy. They 
ftrike with their horns, kick, overturn, and trample under their 
feet every thing that oppofes their fury. They run ferocioufly 
into the ranks, which they foon put into the utmoft diforder, 
and thus pave the way for an eafy victory to their matters*. 
Thefe oxen are likewife inftructed to guard the flocks, which 
they conduct with dexterity, and defend them from the at- 
tacks of Grangers, and of rapacious animals. They are taught 
to diftinguifli friends from enemies, to underftand fignals, 
and to obey the commands of their matter. When paftur- 
ing, at the fmalleft fignal from the keeper, they bring back 
and collect the wandering animals. They attack all ftrangers 
with fury, which renders them a great fecurity againft rob- 
bers. Thefe brachleys, as they are called, know everyjnhabi- 
tant of the kraal, and difcover the fame marks of refpect for 
all the men, women, and children, as a dog does for thofe 
who live in his matter's houfe. Thefe people may, there- 
fore, approach their cattle with the greateft fafety. But, if a 
ftranger, and particularly an European, fhould ufe the fame 
freedom, without being accompanied with one of the Hotten- 
tots, his life would be in imminent dangerf . 

* Voyage de Cap, par Kolbe, torn. i. page 160. 
f Voyage de Cap, par Kolbe, page 307. 

K K k 



462 THE PHILOSOPH* 

Notwithftanding the many furprifing actions which differ^ 
Cnt quadrupeds may be taught to perform, none of them* 
though their organs are much more perfect than thofe of 
birds, have ever been able to pronounce articulate founds. 
But many birds, without much inftrudtion, learn to pro- 
nounce words, and even fentences. In parrots, the diftin- 
guifhing accuracy of their ear, the acutenefs of their atten- 
tion, and their flrong inftindtive propenfity to imitate founds 
of every kind, have juftly procured them univerfal admira- 
tion. When in a ftate of domeftication, the parrot learns to 
pronounce the common ftreet-calls, befide many words and 
phrafes occasionally employed by the family in which he re- 
fides. Though the limitation of his mental powers does 
not permit him to learn any extent of language, or the proper 
ufe and meaning of words, he not unfrequently difcovers the 
aflbciation between the object and the found. A woman 
every morning paffed the window, where a parrot's cage was 
fixed, calling fait. The parrot foon learned to imitate the 
call. But, before any found could be heard, he no fooner 
caft his eye Upon the woman than he uttered her ufual call. 
In this, and many other fimilar cafes, the objects and the 
founds are evidently connected in the mind of the animal. 
How far thefe aflbciations might be carried by a patient and 
perfevering education, it is difficult to determine. In this 
manner, however, parrots might be taught a confiderable vo- 
cabulary of fubftantive nouns, or the proper names of com- 
mon objects. But his intellect, it is more than probable, 
would never reach the ufe of the verb, and other parts of 
fpeechu 

Befide parrots, jays, &c. who learn to pronounce articu- 
late founds, there is another race of birds whofe docility de- 
ferves to be mentioned. Singing birds, thofe lively and fpi- 
rited little animals, attempt not to articulate. But their mu- 
sical ears are as delicate and difcerning as their voices are 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 4&3 

melodious and delightful. The vivacity, the extent of voice, 
and the imitative powers of thefe beautiful creatures, have at 
all times excited the attention and conciliated the affections 
of mankind. When domefticated, thefe birds, befide their 
natural notes, foon acquire the faculty of finging conlidera- 
ble parts of artificial tunes. Thefe imitations are effects of 
natural inftinct. But, in exhibitions, I have feen linnets fim- 
ulate death, and remain perfectly tranquil and unmoved, 
when fmall cannons were fired, within an inch of their bo- 
dies, from a wooden fort. Thefe little creatures have even 
been taught to lay hold of a match and fire the cannons 
themfelves. 

The docility and fagacity of animals have always been con- 
fidered as wonderful. But this wonder is partly the effect 
of inattention ; for, though man is unqueftionably the chief 
of the animal creation, the other animals, according to the 
number of inftincts, or, which amounts to the fame thing, 
according to the mental powers with which Nature has en- 
dowed them, comparatively approach to or recede from the 
fagacity and genius of the human fpecies. The whole is a 
graduated fcale of intelligence. A philofopher fhould, there- 
fore, contemplate and admire the whole, but fhould never be 
furprifed at any partial exhibitions of the general fcene of in- 
tellect and animation. 

"We fhall conclude this fubject with a few remarks concern- 
ing the changes produced in animals by domestication. 

Climate and food are the chief caufes which produce chang- 
es in the magnitude, figure, colour, and conftitution, of wild 
animals. But, befide thefe caufes, there are others which 
have an influence upon animals when reduced to a domeftic 
or unnatural ftate. When at perfect liberty, animals feem 
to have felected thofe particular zones or regions of the globe 
which are moft confonant to the nature and conftitution of 
each particular tribe. There they fpontaneoufly remain, and 



464- THE PHILOSOPHY 

never, like man, difperfe themfelves over the whole furface 
of the earth. But, when obliged by man, or by any great 
revolution of Nature, to abandon their native foil, they un- 
dergo changes fo great, that, to recognife and diftinguifh 
them, recourfe muft be had to the moft accurate examina- 
tion. If we add to climate and food, thofe natural caufes of 
alteration in free animals, the empire of man over fuch of 
them as he has reduced to fervitude, the degree to which ty- 
ranny degrades and disfigures Nature will appear to be great- 
ly augmented. The mouflon, the frock from which our do- 
meftic fheep have derived their origin, is comparatively a 
large animal. He is as fleet as a flag, armed with horns and 
ftrong hoofs, and covered with coarfe hair. With thefe na- 
tural advantages, he dreads neither the inclemency of the fky, 
nor the voracity of the wolf. By the fwiftnefs of his courfe, 
he not only efcapes from his enemies, but he is enabled to 
refill: them by the ftrength of his body and the folidity of 
his arms. How different is this animal from our domeftic 
fheep, who are timid, weak, and unable to defend them- 
felves ? Without the protection of man, the whole race 
would foon be extirpated by rapacious animals and by win- 
ter-ftorms. In the warmeft climates of Africa and of Afia, 
the mouflon, who is the common parent of the fheep, appears 
to be lefs degenerated than in any other region. Though re- 
duced to a domeftic ftate, he has preferved his ftature and his 
hair *, but the fize of his horns is diminifhed. The fheep of 
Bar*bary, Egypt, Arabia, Perfia, &c. have undergone greater 
changes ; and, in proportion as they approach toward either 
pole, they diminifh in fize, in ftrength, in fwiftnefs, and in 
courage. In relation to man, they are improved in fome ar- 
ticles, and vitiated in others. Their coarfe hair is converted 
into fine wool. But, with regard to Nature, improvement 
and degeneration amount to the fame thing j for both imply 
$n alteration of the original conftitution. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 4-6.5 

The ox is more influenced by nourifhmeot than any other 
domeflic animal. In countries where the pafture is luxuri- 
ant, the oxen acquire a prodigious fize. To the oxen of 
^Ethiopia and and fome provinces of Alia, the ancients gave 
the appellation of Bull-elephants, becaufe, in thefe regions, 
they approach to the magnitude of the elephant. This effect 
is chiefly produced by the abundance of rich and fucculent 
herbage. The Highlands of Scotland, and indeed every 
high and northern country, afford ilriking examples of the 
influence of food upon the magnitude of cattle. The oxen, 
as well as the horfes,in the more northern parts of Scotland, 
are extremely diminutive ; but, when traniported to richer 
pafture, their fize is augmented, and the qualities of their 
flefh are improved. The climate has likewife a confiderabla 
influence on the nature of the ox. In the northern regions 
of both continents, he is covered with long foft hair. He 
has likewife a large bunch on his {boulders ; and this defor- 
mity is common to the oxen of Afia 3 Africa, and America, 
Thofe of Europe have no bunch. The European oxen, how- 
ever, feem to be the primitive race, to which the bunched 
kind afcend, by intermixture, in the fecond or third genera^ 
tion. The difference in their fize is remarkably great. The 
fmall zebu, or bunched ox of Arabia, is not one tenth part of 
the magnitude of the ^Ethiopian bull-elephant. 

The influence of food upon the dog-kind feems not to be 
great. In all his variations and degradations, he appears to 
follow the differences of climate. In the warmeft climates s 
he is naked ; in the northern regions, he is covered with a 
coarfe thick hair ; and he is adorned with a fine filky robe 
in Spain and Syria, where the mild temperature of the air 
converts the hair of moft quadrupeds into a kind of filk< 
Befide thefe external variations produced by climate, the dog 
undergoes other changes, which proceed from his fituation, 
his captivity, and the nature of the intercourfe he holds with 



466 THE PHILOSOPHY 

man. His fize is augmented or diminifhed by obliging the 
fmaller kinds to unite together, and by obferving the fame 
conduct with the larger individuals. The (hortening of the 
tail and ears proceeds alfo from the hand of man. Dogs who 
have had their ears and tails cut for a few generations, tranf- 
mit thefe defects, in a certain degree, to their defcendants. 
Pendulous ears, the moft certain mark of domeftic fervitude 
and of fear, are almoft univerfal. Of many races of dogs, a 
few only have retained the primitive ftate of their ears. 
Erect ears are now confined to the wolf-dog, the fhepherd's 
dog, and the dog of the North. 

The colour of animals is greatly variegated by domefti- 
cation. The dog, the ox, the fheep, the goat, the horfe, have 
aflumed all kinds of colours and even mixtures of colours, in 
the fame individuals. The hog has changed from black to white; 
and white, without the intermixture of fpots, is generally ac- 
companied with efTential imperfections. Men who are remark- 
ably fair, and whofe hiir is white, have generally a defect in 
their hearing, and, at the fame time, weak and red eyes. Quad- 
rupeds which are entirely whiteslave like wife red eyes and a 
dullnefs of hearing. The variations from the original colour 
are molt remarkable in our domeftic fowls. In a brood of 
chickens, though the eggs be laid by the fame hen, and 
though the female be impregnated by the fame male, not 
one of them has the fame colours with another. 

Domeftication not only changes the external appearances 
of animals, but alters or modifies their natural difpofitions. 
The dog, for example, when in a ftate of liberty, is a rapa- 
cious quadruped, and hunts and devours the weaker fpecies : 
But, after he has fubmitted to the dominion of man, he re- 
Jinquifhes his natural ferocity, and is converted into a mean, 
fervile, patient, and parafitical flave. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 467 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Of the Characters of Animals. 



O 



'N this fubjedl it never was intended to paint 
the characters of every fpecies, even of the larger animals* 
The reader will eafily recollect, that, in many parts of this 
work, much has already been faid with regard to the tem- 
pers, difpolitions, and manners, of a great number of animals. 
Thefe we fhall not repeat, but proceed to fome general re- 
marks. 

On every animal Nature has imprinted a certain charatler, 
which is indelibly fixed, and diftinguiflies the fpecies. This 
character we difcover by the actions, the air, the counten- 
ance, the movements, and the whole external appearance. 
The courage of the lion, the ferocity of the tiger, the 
voracioufnefs of the wolf, the pride of the courfer, the 
dullnefs and indolence of the afs, the cunning and ad- 
drefs of the fox, the affection and docility of the dog, the 
fubtlety and felfifhnefs of the cat, the mildnefs of the fheep, 
the timidity of the hare, the vivacity of the fquirrel, are 
proper examples. Thefe characters, when under the influence 
of domeftication, may be modified by education, of which 
rewards and punifhments are the chief inftruments employ- 
ed. But the original character, imprefied by the hand of 
Nature, is never fully obliterated. Thofe animals which 
feem to have been deftined by Nature to live in perpetual 
flavery under the dominion of man, have the mildeft. and 
moft gentle difpofitions. It is pleafant, but, at the fame time, 
fomewhat contemptible, to fee a troop of oxen guided by the 
whip of a child. 



468 THE PHILOSOPHY 

In the human fpecies, the variety of tempers, affections, 
averfions, and ftudies, is indifpenfibly necefTary for fupport- 
ing the focial ftate, and carrying on the general bufinefs of 
life. Some minds are formed for ftudy and deep refearch, 
and others for action, courage, and the exertion of bodily 
powers. The fame variety in the difpofitions and manners 
of the different tribes of animals is equally necefTary for peo- 
pling the earth, and for fupplying the reciprocal exigencies 
of its inhabitants. 

Befide the general fpecific characters of animals, individual 
characters, efpecially among the human race, are ftrongly 
marked, and greatly variegated. In every government, and 
particularly in commercial fbites, human characters, indepen- 
dently of the original bias, or genius, ftamped by Nature on 
individual minds, are often fo difguifed by a thoufand arti- 
fices, that it requires not only time, but frequent interefting 
fcenes, before a man can difcover the real character even of 
an intimate companion. Many men affociate together in 
the moft harmonious manner, and fhow every fymptom of 
friend fhip and attachment ; but, when any of them happens 
to be diftrefTed, and to require aid, all this apparent friend- 
fhip inftantly vanifhes, the afpect of the countenance, inftead 
of exhibiting fympathy and cordiality, is converted into a 
cold referve, and the unfortunate former companion is firft 
fhunned, and then deferted. This picture of human nature, 
we are forry to remark, is too general ; but, thank Heaven, 
it is not univerfal ; for there always were, and ftill are, men 
of noble and generous minds, who willingly facrifice part of 
their own intereft to that of their friends. 

With regard to the characters of quadrupeds, befide the 
fpecific difpofitions which diftinguifh the different kinds, 
each individnal poffeffes a peculiar character by which it may 
be difcriminated from any other. Thefe individual charac- 
ters may be difcovered not only by the afpect, but by the 



0F NATURAL HrSTORY. 469 

actions of animals. Some dogs, even of the fame race, are 
furly, churlifh, and revengeful. Others are gay, frolick- 
fome, and friendly. The countenances of men, which al- 
ways indicate fome part of their original and genuine charac- 
ter, are as various as their numbers. Though lefs fubject to 
general obfervation, Nature has marked the countenances of 
every animal, even down to the infect tribes, with fome 
characteriftic ftrokes, which enable them to diftinguifh one 
another, and even to contract particular attachments. To us, 
the fmall birds, fuch as fparrows and linnets, appear to be fo 
perfectly iimilar, that, though we had an opportunity of fee- 
ing great numbers of them collected in one place, it would 
require much time and attention to be enabled to make indi- 
vidual distinctions. After they have brought up their young, 
they ailbciate promifcuoufly in flocks ; but, when the genial 
£jring arrives, a different fcene is exhibited. The flocks 
difappear. Each male has felected, courted, and retired with 
a female to build a neft, to hatch eggs, and to nourifh and 
fupport their young. If Nature had not ftamped upon every 
individual a, peculiar mark, it would be impoflible that the 
immenfe multitudes who pair, or join in matrimony, fhould 
be capable of diftinguifhing and adhering faithfully to one - 
another. A fhepherd, who has been long accuftomed to fu- 
perintend a numerous flock, knows, by the countenances, 
and other natural or accidental marks, every individual. I 
knew a fhepherd, who not only diftinguifhed every individu- 
al of above two hundred fheep, but gave to each a particu- 
lar name. 

The characters of quadrupeds, and even of fome birds, are 
indicated by obfcure refemblances between the lineaments of 
their faces, and thofe of men of different features and difpo- 
fitions. Some men, in the general expreflion of their coun- 
tenances, refemble goats, others fheep, others oxen, others 
fwine, others lions, others dogs, others foxes, others owls, 

L l I ' 



470 THE PHILOSOPHY 

others hawks. Even in particular races of the fame fpecies, 
fimilarities of this kind may be traced. I know fome men 
who refemble terriers, others greyhounds, others fpaniels, 
others the fhepherd's dog, others the lap-dog, &c. Some of 
thefe refemblances may be regarded as fanciful, and perhaps 
they frequently are. But, in general, when the refemblance 
to a particular animal is flrongly marked in the human coun- 
tenance, the difpofitions of the men have a ffcriking affinity 
to thofe of the animal. Men who refemble the fox are uni- 
formly cunning and deceitful. Thofe who refemble the ox 
are dull, ftupid, and phlegmatic. Thofe who refemble the 
lion are bold, open, generous, and witty. Thofe who refem- 
ble the cat are circumfpect, deligning, and avaricious. Thofe 
who refemble the greyhound are vigilant, active, and fmart. 
Thofe who refemble the lap-dog are vain, prefumptuous, 
petulent, and lafcivious. Thofe who refemble the fow are 
difguftful both in their appearance and in their difpofitions. 
Thofe who refemble a crofs-made horfe are cruel, unfeeling, 
and highly felfifh. Thofe who refemble the fpaniel, of 
whom the examples are numerous, are fawning, mean, and 
parafitical. Thofe who refemble the fheep are dull, timid, 
and inoffenfive. Thofe who refemble the goat are fanciful, 
obftinate, and libidinous. Thofe who refemble a fine horfe 
are intrepid, generous, tractable, and good humoured. Thofe 
who refemble a hawk are quick, defultory, and ingenious. 
Thofe who refemble the owl are dark, deligning, and treach- 
erous, Thofe who refemble the bee are active, ignorant, and 
induftrious. It is needlefs to multiply examples. Every man's 
recollection and obfervation will furnilh him with number- 
lefs coincidences between the fimilarities in ftructure and 
features to particular animals, and the form, difpofitions, and 
manners, of the men who pofTefs them. 

Comparifons have been inftituted, and analogies traced, 
between the ftructure, afpect, and difpofitions, of fome quad- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 4m 1 

rupeds and thofe of certain birds, which fhow a uniformity 
in the general plan of Nature. Among birds, as well as 
quadrupeds, fome fpecies are carnivorous, and others feed 
upon fruits, grain, and various kinds of herbage. The eagle, 
which is a noble and a generous bird, reprefents the lion. 
The vulture, which is cruel and infatiable, reprefents the ti- 
ger. The kite, the buzzard, and the raven, who live chiefly 
on offals and carion, reprefent the hyaena, the wolf, and the 
jackal. * The falcon, the fparrow-hawk, and other birds em- 
ployed in hunting, reprefent the dog, the fox, the lynx, &c. 
The owl, who fearches for her prey in the night, reprefents 
the cat. The heron and cormorant, who feed upon fifties, 
reprefent the beaver and the otter. Peacocks, hens, and all 
other birds which have a crop, or craw, reprefent oxen, fheep, 
goats, and other ruminating animals. 



472 THE PHILOSOPHY 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Of the Principle of Imitation. 

IMITATION neceflarily implies fome degree of 
intelligence. All animals, particularly thofe of the more per- 
fect kinds, are endowed with the principle of imitation. The 
confequence is obvious, that all animals poiTefs a certain por- 
tion of intellectual power. In man, rlie principle of imita- 
tion appears at a very early period of his exiftence. In the 
more advanced ftages of life, this principle is fo interwoven 
with other motives of acting and thinking, that it is difficult 
to diftinguifh it as a feparate inftinct, and equally difficult to 
conquer the habits and prejudices to which it has given rife. 
The lefs a man has cultivated his rational faculties, the more 
powerful is the principle of imitation over his actions and his 
habits of thinking. Moil women, of courfe, are more in- 
fluenced by the behaviour, the fafhions, and the opinions of 
thofe with whom they aflbciate than men. From this almoft 
irreiiftible inftinct, we fhould learn the extreme danger of 
frequenting the company of the diflblute and unprincipled ; 
for bad habits are foon acquired, but very difficult to con- 
quer. It is a comfortable circumftance, however, that if men, 
efpecially when young, are fortunate enough to fall in with 
the fociety of the virtuous and intelligent, the principle of 
imitation, fo benevolent is Nature, acts with redoubled force. 
If we attend to our own feelings, we muft acknowledge, that, 
in the acquifition of bad habits, there is an evident force up- 
on our natural inclinations, but that, in virtuous afTociations, 
the mind acquiefces with plealure, and feels no reftraint in 
complying with the examples it perceives nor in acquiring 
the correfpondent habits. We are prone to evil ; but, when 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 473 

not corrupted by improper imitations, Nature has made us 
much more prone to good. 

Artificial language, which we learn entirely by imitation, 
diftinguifh.es us, more than any other circumftance, from the 
brute creation. The proper ufe of it likewife forms the chief 
difference between one man and another j for, by language, 
one man difcovers a fuperiority of knowledge and of genius, 
while others exprefs by it nothing but borrowed or confufed 
ideas. In an idiot, or in a parrot, it marks only the moft ab- 
ject degree of itupidity. It fhows the incapacity of either to 
produce a regular chain of thinking, though both of them 
be endowed with organs capable of expreffing what paffes 
within their minds. Men whofe fenfes are delicate, and 
whofe minds are eafily affected, make the belt actors, and the 
beft mimics. Children, accordingly, are extremely alert in 
imitating the actions, the geftures, and the manners, of thofe 
with whom they affociate. They are dexterous in perceiv- 
ing ridiculous figures and reprefentations, which they imi- 
tate with eafe and propriety. Hence we perceive, in the 
education of children, the infinite importance of regulating 
the principle of imitation. 

, The education of the inferior animals, though fhort, is al- 
ways fuccefsful. By imitation, they foon acquire all the 
knowledge poffeffed by their parents. They not only de- 
rive experience from their own feelings, but, by imitation, 
they learn and employ the experience of others. Young 
animals model their actions entirely upon thofe of the old. 
They fee their feniors approach or fly when they perceive 
particular objects, hear particular founds, or fmell certain 
odours. At firft, they approach or fly without any other- 
determining principle but that of imitation. Afterwards, 
they approach or fly fpontaneoully, becaufe they have then 
acquired the habit of approaching or flying, whenever they 
feel the fame or fimilar fenfations. Manv inltincts, as terror 



474 THE PHILOSOPHY 

upon hearing particular founds* the appearance of natural 
enemies, the feleclion of food, &c. feem to be partly the effects 
of imitation. It is remarked by Ulloa, that, in the year 1 743, 
the dogs in Juan Fernades had loft the faculty of barking. 
When affociated with other dogs, it was with great difficulty 
that they again learned, by imitation to bark. The caufe of 
thefe dogs looting the exprefiion of their ufual language in a 
domeftic flate, it is not eafy to inveftigate. Perhaps, by the 
aid of experience, and their own fagacity, they difcovered 
that barking warned their prey to efcape from danger. The 
jackals, however, who are confidered as belonging to the dog- 
kind, not only hunt in packs, but, during the chafe, make a 
loud and a hideous noife. Mr. White, in his Natural Hifto- 
ry of Selborne, a work which contains much information, 
and difcovers a good and benevolent heart in the author, in- 
forms us, that he had an opportunity of feeing two dogs, a 
male and a female, which had been brought from Canton in 
China. Thefe dogs, which, in China, are fattened for eat- 
ing, are about the lize of an ordinary fpaniel, and are of a 
yellow colour. ' When taken out into a field/ he remarks, 
4 the bitch fhowed fome difpofition for hunting, and dwelt 
1 on the fcent of a covey of partridges till fhe fprung them, 
« giving her tongue all the time. The dogs in South Ame- 

< rica are dumb ; but thefe bark much in a fhort thick man- 

< ner, like foxes ; and have a furly favage demeanour, like 
« their anceftors, which are not domefticated, but bred up in 

< fties, where they are fed for the table with rice-meal, and 

< pther farinaceous food. Thefe dogs, having been taken 

* on board as foon as weaned, could not have learned 

* much from their dam ; yet they did not relifh flefh when 
« they came to England. In the iflands of the Pacific Ocean, 
f the dogs are bred upon vegetables, and would not eat flefh 
f when offered them by our circumnavigators.' 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 475 

From facts of this kind, of which a great number might 
be mentioned, the following obfervations naturally arife. 
Thefe Chinefe dogs, though defcended, probably for many 
generations, from a race of anceflors who never had the 
leaft experience or education in hunting, preferved their 
original inftindl of fcenting and purfuing game. The dog 
is a grofsly carnivorous animal ; for he prefers carion to any 
other kind of nourifliment ; yet the Chinefe dogs difcovered 
no particular relifti for the flefh of animals. Thus it ap- 
pears, that, by Jiabits, acquired, not by the individual, but 
by a train of anceftors, both the tafte and the confKtution of 
animals may be greatly altered. From the fame facts, how- 
ever, it is equally evident, that Nature can never be entirely 
conquered. The moment the Chinefe dogs firft faw a field, 
they both fcented and hunted game. Imitation and habit 
feem to have greater effects upon the mode of living, feed- 
ing, and the corporeal fabrick, than upon the original inftinc^s 
of the mind. Thefe dogs, even when they came to Eng- 
land after a long voyage, had not acquired the habit of gree- 
dily devouring, like other dogs, either frefh meat or carion 5 
but, on the firft opportunity afforded to them, they difcover- 
ed an inclination to hunt. 



476 THE PHILOSOPHY 



CHAPTER XX. 



Of the Migration of Animals. 

_L HE Hon. Daines Barrington, in his Effay on the 
Periodical Appearing and Difappearing of certain Birds y at differ- 
ent times of the year*, has, by many ingenious arguments, as 
well as curious facts, rendered it extremely probable, that no 
birds, however ftrong and fvvift in their flight, can poflibly 
fly over fuch large tracts of the ocean as has been commonly 
fuppofed. He admits partial migrations or fittings, as he 
Calls them, though he does not attempt to afcertain the dif- 
tances of thefe Sittings. With regard to the fwallows, of 
which there are feveral fpecies in Britain, fome natural ifts, 
of whom the Hon. Daines Barrington is one, are inclined to 
think that they do not leave this ifland at the end of autumn, 
but that they lie in a torpid ftate till the beginning of fum- 
mer in the banks of the rivers, the hollows of decayed trees, 
the receffes of old buildings, the holes of fand-banks, and in 
fimilar fltuations. That fwallows, in the winter months, 
have fometimes, though very rarely, been found in a torpid 
ftate, is unqueftionably true. Neither is the inference, that, 
if any of them can furvive the winter in that ftate, the 
whole of them may fubfift, during the cold feafon, in the 
fame condition, in the fmalleft degree unnatural. Still, how- 
ever, the numbers of fwallows which appear in this ifland, 
as well' as in all parts of Europe, during the fummer months, 
are fo very confiderable, that, if the great body of them did 
not migrate to fome other climate, they fhould be much 
more frequently found in a torpid ftate. On the contrary, 
when a few of them are difcovered in that ftate, it is regarded 
* PhiJ, Tranfadl, vol. 62, page 265, &c. 



V 

OF NATURAL HISTORY. 4-77 

•as a wonder even by the country people, who have the 
greater!: opportunities of {tumbling upon facts of this kind. 
When, accordingly, a few fwallows or martins are found 
torpid in winter, and have been revived by a gentle heat, 
the fact, and few fuch facts there are, is carefully recorded 
as lingular in all the periodical publications of Europe. 

Mr. Pennant informs us, from undoubted authority, that 
fome quails, and other birds which are generally fuppofed to 
leave this ifland in winter, retire to the fea-coafts, and pick 
up their food among the fea-weeds*. 

f Quails,' Mr. Pennant remarks, c are birds of pafTage ; 
c fome entirely quitting our iflands, others fhifting their 

* quarters. A gentleman, to whom this work lies under 
e great obligations, has affured us, that thefe birds migrate 
s out of the neighbouring inland counties, into the hundreds 

* of EiTex in October, and continue there all the winter : If 

* froft or fnovv drive them out of the ftubble-fields and 
{ marines, they retreat to the fea-fide, fhelter themfelves a- 
( mong the weeds, and live upon what they can pick up 

* from the algae, Sec. between high and low water mark. 
c Our friend remarks, that the time of their appearance in 
< EfTex coincides with that of their leaving the inland coun- 
« ties f* - 

A quail, it mud be allowed, feems to be very much un- 
qualified for a long migration ; for its tail is fhort, the bird 
never rifes more than twenty or thirty feet from the ground, 
and it feldom flies above three hundred yards at a time. Be- 
lon, however, an author of great fagacity and credit, tells 
us, that, in his pafTage from Rhodes to Alexandria, many, 
quails flying from north to fouth, were taken in his (hip. 
From this circumftance, he remarks, ( I am periuaded 
( that they fhift places •, for formerly, when I failed out of 

* Brit. Zool. Vol, 1. page 210. 2d edit. 8vo. 
J* Pennant, ibid. 

M m m 



475 THE PHILOSOPHY 

• the Ifle of Zant to Morea, or Negropont, in the fpring, I 

* obferved quails flying the contrary way, at which time, al- 

• foy a great many were taken in our fliip.' This traverfe 
they might be enabled to accomplifh by palling from one 
ifland to another in the Mediterranean. 

Inftances of fwallows and fome other birds alighting on the 
raafts and cordage of veffels, at confiderable diftances from any 
fhore, are not fo numerous as might be expected. Neither 
have they been often obferved flying over feas in great flocks. 
Mr. Peter Collinfon, in a letter printed in the Philofophical 
tranfactions, fays, ( that Sir Charles Wager had frequently 

* informed him, that, in one of his voyages home in the 
6 fpring, as he came into foundings in our channel, a great 
' flock of fwallows almoft covered bis rigging j that they 
1 were nearly fpent and famiflied, and were only feathers and 
< bones *, but, being recruited by a night's reft, they took 
1 their flight in the morning/ 

M. Adanfon, in his voyage, informs us, that, about fifty 
leagues from the coaft of Senegal, four fwallows fettled upon 
the fhip, on the fixth day of October ; that thefe birds were 
taken *, and that he knew them to be the true fwallow of 
Europe, which he conjectures were then returning to the 
coaft of Africa. The Hon. Daines Barrington, with more 
probability, fuppofes that thefe fwallows, inftead of being on 
their paflage from Europe, were only flitting from the Cape 
de Verde iflands to the continent of Africa, a much fhorter 
flight, but to which they feemed to be unequal, as they were 
obliged, from fatigue, to light upon the fhip, and fall into 
the hands of the failors. 

Swallows, Mr. Kalm remarks, appear in the Jerries about 
the beginning of April. They are, on their firft arrival, 
wet, becaule they have juft emerged from the fea or lakes, 
at the bottom of which they had remained in a torpid ftate 
during the whole winter. But Mr. Kalm, who wifhes to fup- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 479 

port the torpidity of fwallows during the winter, likewife in- 
forms us, that he himfelf met with them at fea, nine hun- 
dred and twenty miles from any land*. 

Thefe, and fimilar facts, the Hon. Daines Barrington en- 
deavours to explain, by fuppofing that birds difcovered in 
fuch fituations, inftead of attempting to crofs large branches 
of the ocean, have been forcibly driven from fome ccaft by 
ftorms, and that they would naturally perch upon the firft 
vefTel which came within their view. 

In Britain, five fpecies of fwallows appear in the fummer 
and difappear in the winter. 1. The houfe-fwallow makes 
its appearance about twenty days earlier than the martin, or 
any other of the fwallow tribe. They are often feen abcut 
the 13th day of April. They difappear about the end of 
September. A few days previous to their departure, they 
alTemble in great flocks on the tops of houfes, churches, and 
trees, from whence they are fuppefed to take their flight. 
This unufual and temporary afTociation of numbers indicates 
the impulfe of fome common inftincV. by which each indivi- 
dual is actuated, The houfe fwallow is eafily diftinguifhed 
from the other fpecies by the fuperior forkinefs of its tail, 
and bv a red fpot on the forehead, and under the chin. 
This fpecies build in chimneys, and make its neft of clay, 
but leaves the top quite open. 2. The martin is inferior in 
fize to the former, and its tail is much lefs forked. The 
martins appear in Britain foon after the houfe-fwallow. 
They build under the eaves of houfes : The neft is compos- 
ed of the fame materials as thofe of the houfe-fwallow ; but 
it is covered above, and a fmall hole only is left in the fide 
for the ingrefs and egrefs of the birds. The martins totally 
difappear about the beginning of October. 3. The fand- 
martin, or bank-martin, is by much the fmalleft of the fwal- 
low-kind that vifit Britain. The fand-martins arrive very 
* Voy, torn. i. D2ge 24. 



480 THE PHILOSOPHY 

foon after the houfe-fwallow, and difappear about Michael- 
mas. They dig confiderable holes in fand-pits and in the 
banks of rivers, where they build their nefts, which confift 
not of mud, like thofe of the former fpecies, but of grafies 
and feathers laid together in a very flovenly manner. It is 
worthy of remark, that thefe birds do not employ the cavi- 
ties they dig in fummer for winter-quarters ; fince fand- 
banks, fo perforated, have been carefully fearched in the 
winter, and nothing was found but empty nefts*. 4. The 
fwift, or black martin of Wilioughby, is the largeft of our 
fwallows, and is the lateft of arriving in this country ; for 
the fwifts are feldom feen till the beginning of May, and 
commonly appear, not in flocks, but in pairs. Swifts, like 
the fand-martins, carry on the bufinefs of incubation in the 
dark. They build in the cranies of caftles, towers, and flee- 
pies. Straw and feathers are the materials they ufe. They 
difappear very early ; for they are almoft never ieen after 
the middle of Auguft. 5. The goatfucker, which belongs 
to the fwallow tribe, is likewife a bird of paflage. Like the 
other fwallows, it feeds upon winged infecls. But, inftead 
of purfuing its prey during the day, it flies only in the night, 
and feizes moths, and other nocturnal infects. From this 
circumftance, it has not improperly received the appellation 
of the noclurnal Jivalloiv. The goat- fucker ftays only a fhort 
time in Britain. It appears not till about the end of May, and 
retires in the middle of Auguft. It lays its eggs, which are 
commonly two, and fometimes three, on the bare ground. 

To give catalogues of the numerous birds of pafTage which 
frequent this ifland, as well as other countries, and to mark 
the times of their arrival and departure, would be deviating 
entirely from our plan. For circumftances of this kind, the 
curious may confult Catefby, Klein, Linnaci Amoenitates 
Academicae, White, &c. But, as the periodical appearance 

* White's Natural Hiftory of Selborne, page 177. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 48} 

and difappearance of the fwaliow -tribe have given rife to dif^ 
ferent theories and opinions, we fhall briefly relate thofe 
opinions, and conclude with fome remarks on migration in 
general. 

Herodotus and Profper Alpinus mention one fpecies of 
fwaliow which refides in Egypt during the whole year* ; 
and Mr. Loten, late governour of Ceylon, allured Mr. Pen- 
nant, that thofe of Java never remove. If thefe be excepted, 
all the other known kinds retreat or migrate periodically. 
Swallows migrate from almoft every climate. They remove 
from Norway f , from North America J, from Kamtfchatka§, 
from the temperate parts of Europe, from Aleppo [|, and 
from Jamaica f . 

Concerning the periodical appearance and difappearance 
of fwallows, there are three opinions adopted by different 
naturalifts. The firfb and molt, probable, is, that they re- 
move from climate to climate at thofe particular feafons 
when winged infects, their natural food, fails in one country 
or district and abounds in another, where they likewife find 
a temperature of air better fuited to their conflitutions. In 
fupport of this opinion, we have the teftimony, as formerly 
mentioned, of Sir Charles Wager, of M. Adanfon, and of 
many navigators. It is equally true, however, that fome 
fpecies of fwallows have been occasionally found in a torpid 
ftate during winter. Mr. Collinfon gives the evidence of 
three gentlemen who were eye-witnefTes to a number of 
fand-martins being drawn out of a cliff on the Rhine in the 
Month of March 1762**. The Hon. Daines Barrington, in 
the year 1768, communicated to Mr. Pennant, on the au- 
thority of the late Lord Belhaven, the following fact : ' That 

* Profp. Alp. torn, i, page 198, 
f Pontopp. Hift. Norw. ii. 98. + Catefoy's Carol, v. 1. page jr.. App. 8. 
\ Hift. Kamtfchatfca.page iGa. |j Riufd's Alep.page 70. tfPhiL Tranf, U Q. 3$, 
** Philoioph. Tranfaft. vol. 53, page joi. art. 24. 



482 THE PHILOSOPHY 

« numbers of fwallows have been found in old dry walls, and 
* in fand-hills, near his Lordfhip's feat in Eafl Lothian ; not 
c once only, but from year to year ; and that, when they 
« were expofed to the warmth of a fire, they revived*/ 
Thefe, and other facts of the fame kind, feem to be uncon- 
trovertible ; and Mr. Pennant infers from them, that « we 
« muft divide our belief relating to thefe two fo different opi- 
« nions, and conclude, that one part of the fwallow tribe mi- 
< grate, and that others have their winter-quarters near 
« home f.' But we fhould rather incline to think, with thofe 
naturalifts who fuppofe that the torpid fwallows which are 
occafionally, though very rarely, difcovered in the winter 
feafon, have been obliged to remain behind, becaufe they 
were too young, weak, difeafed, or fuperannuated, to under- 
take a long and fatiguing flight. Still, however, that the 
torpidity of the feathered tribes fhould be folely confined to 
the fwallows, is a very fingular fact in the hiftory of Nature. 
Among quadrupeds, there are many fpccies who lie in a dor- 
mant or torpid flate during winter. But, if the fwallow be 
excepted, not a fingle fpecies of birds, notwithflanding the 
great numbers which, at ftated times, appear and difappear 
in every corner of the globe, has ever been difcovered in 
that ftate. This circumftance alone, though we cannot yet 
afcertain the precife places to which different fpecies of birds 
of pafTage refort, is a moft convincing proof of migration in 
general. 

It has been afTerted, and even believed, by fome naturalifts, 
that fwallows pafs the winter immerfed under the ice, at the 
bottom of lakes, or beneath the waters of the fea. Olaus 
Magnus, Archbifhop of Upfal, feems to have been the firft 
who adopted this opinion. He informs us, that fwallows 
are found in great clufters at the bottoms of the northern 

* Pennant's British Zoology, vol. 2, page 230. Svo edit, 
f Ibid. 25 r. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 48$ 

lakes, with mouth to mouth, wing to wing, foot to foot, and 
that in autumn they creep down the reeds to their fubterra- 
neous retreats*. « That the good Archbifhop,' Mr. Pennant 
archly remarks, « did not want credulity in other inftances. 
c appears from this, that, after having flocked the bottoms 
« of the lakes with birds, he flores the clouds with mice, 
S which fometimes fall in plentiful fhowers on Norway and 
1 the neighbouring countries !' Klein has endeavoured to fup- 
port the notion that fwallows lie under water during the 
winter, and gives the following account of their manner of 
retiring, which he collected from fome countrymen : They 
afTerted, he tells us, that the fwallows fometimes afTembled 
in numbers on a reed till it broke and funk them to the bot- 
tom : That their immerfion was preceded by a kind of 
dirge, which lafted more than a quarter cf an hour : That 
others united, laid hold of a ftraw with their bills, and plung- 
ed down in fociety : That others, by clinging together with 
their feet, formed a large mafs, and in this manner commit- 
ted themfelves to the deepf. 

Two reafons feem to render this fuppofed fubmerfion of 
fwallows impoffible. In the flrfl place, no land-animal can 
exifl fo long without fome degree of refpiration. The otter, 
the feal, and water. fowls of all kinds, when confined under 
the ice, or entangled in nets, foon perifh ; yet it is well 
known, that animals of this kind can remain much longer 
under water than thofe who are deftitute of that peculiar 
ftructure of the heart which is neceffary for any confiderable 
refidence beneath that penetrating element. Mr. John Hun- 
ter, in a letter to Mr. Pennant, informs us, c That he had 
« difTected many fwallows, but found nothing in them differ- 
4 ent from other birds as to the organs of refpiration : That 
< all thofe animals which he had diflected of the clafs that 

* Derham's Phyf. Theol. page 349. 
f Klein Prod. Hill. Avium, page 205. 206. 



484 THE PHILOSOPHY 

* fleep daring winter, fuch as lizards, frogs, &c. had a very 
« different conformation as to thofe organs : That all thofe 
« animals, he believes, do breathe in their torpid ftate ; and, 

• as far as his experience reaches, he knows they do ; and 
' that, therefore, he efteems it a very wild opinion, that ter- 
c reftrial animals can remain any long time under water 
c -without drowning.* Another argument againn: their fub- 
meriion rifes from the fpecific gravity of tne animals them- 
felves. Of all birds, the fwallow tribes are perhaps the 
lighteft. Their plumage, and the comparative fmallnefs of 
their weight, indicate that Nature deftined them to be almoft 
perpetually on the wing in queft of food. From this fpeci- 
fic lightnefs, the fubmerfion of fwallows, and their continu- 
ing for months under water, amount to a phyfical impoili- 
bility. Even water-fowls, when they wifli to dive, are oblig- 
ed to rife and plunge with confiderable exertion, in order to 
overcome the refiftance of the water. Klein's idea of fwal- 
lows employing reeds and ftraws as means of fubmeriion is 
rather ludicrous ; for thefe light fubftances, inftead of being 
proper inftruments for affifting them to reach the bottom, 
would infallibly contribute to fupport them on the furface, 
and prevent the very object of their intention. Befides, admit- 
ting the poffibility of their reaching the bottom of lakes and 
feas, and fuppofing they could exift for feveral months with- 
out refpiration, what would be the confequence ? The 
whole would foon be devoured by otters, feals, and fifhes of 
various kinds. Nature is always anxious for the prefervation 
of fpecies. But," if the fwallow tribes were deftined to re- 
main torpid, during the winter months, at the bottom of 
lakes and feas, {he would act in oppofition to her own inten- 
tions ; for, in a feafon or two, the whole genus would be 
annihilated. 

Mr. White of Selborne has favoured us with the follow- 
ing information concerning the migration of fwallows : ( If 



OF NATURAL HrSTORY. 485 

■ever 1 faw,' fays he, * any thing like actual migration, it 
was laft Michaelmas day, 1768. I was travelling, and out 
early in the morning : At firft there was a vaft fog ; but, 
by the time that I Was got feven or eight miles from home 
towards the coaft, the fun broke out into a delicate warm 
day. "We were then on a large heath or common, and I 
could difcern, as the mift began to break away, great num- 
bers of fwallows cluflering on the ftinted fhrubs and bufli- 
es, as if they had roofted there all night. As foon as the 
air became clear and pleafant, they all were on the wing at 
once, and, by a placid and eafy flight, proceeded on fouth- 
ward towards the fea : After this I did not fee any more 
flocks, only now and then a flxaggler. When I ufed to 
rife in a morning laft autumn, and fee the fwallows and 
martins cluflering on the chimneys and thatch of the neigh- 
bouring cottages, I could not help being touched with fe- 
cret delight, mixed with fome degree of mortification : 
With delight, to obferve with how much ardour and punc- 
tuality thofe poor little birds obeyed the ftrong impulfe to- 
wards migration, or hiding, imprinted on their minds by 
their great Creator j and with fome degree of mortifica- 
tion, when I reflected, that, after all our pains and enquir- 
ies, we are yet not quite certain to what regions they do 
migrate ; and are ftill farther embarrafled to find, that 
fome do not actually migrate at all*/ 
In another part of this work, Mr. White fays : * But we 
muft not deny migration in general ; becaufe migration 
certainly does fubfift in fome places, as my brother in An- 
dalufia has fully informed me. Of the motions of thefe 
birds he has ocular demonftration, for many weeks toge- 
ther, both fpring and fall : During which periods, myriads 
of the fwallow kind traverfe the Straits from north to fouth, 
and from fouth to north, according to the feafon. And 

* White's Natural Hiftory of Stlborne, page 64,65. 

N n n 



486 THE PHILOSOPHY 

* thefe vaft migrations confift not only of hirudines (fwallows,) 

* but of bee birds , hoopoes , oropendulos, or golden thrujhes, &c. &c. 

* and alfo many of our foft billed fummer birds of paffage ; and, 
' moreover, of birds which never leave us, fuch as all the 
( various forts of liawks and kites. Old Belon, two hundred 

* years ago, gives a curious account of the incredible armies 
f of hawks and kites, which he faw in the fpring-time trav- 
4 erfing the Thracian Bofphorus from Ada to Europe. Be- 
< fides the above mentioned, he remarks, that the proceffion 
« is fwelled by whole troops of eagles and vultures*.' 

Mr. White likewife, with much propriety, remarks, that 
Our inquiries concerning the migration of birds have been 
too much confined to the fwallow tribes •, while little atten- 
tion has been paid to the fhort-winged birds of paffage, 
fuch as quails, red-ftarts, nightingales, white-throats, black- 
caps, &c. All thefe, though feemingly ill qualified for long 
flights, difappear in the winter, and not one of them, not- 
withftanding their immenfe numbers, has ever been found 
in a torpid ftate. 

To mark the times of the arrival and departure of birds 
of paffage in different countries, and in different diftricts of 
the fame countries, and the probable motives arifing from 
the ftate of the country with regard to heat and cold, and to 
that of the food peculiar to each kind, would throw much 
light upon the hiftory of migration. To Mr. White of Sel- 
borne we are obliged for the following lifts of birds of paf- 
fage which he has obferved in his neighbourhood. Thefe 
lifts are arranged nearly in the order of time. 

* White's Natural Hiftory of Selbornc, page 1 39. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



487 



Lifl of Summer Birds of Paffage. 



Names. 


Usually appear about 


1. Wryneck, 


Middle of March, 


2. Smalleft willow -wren, 


March 23. 


3. Houfe-fwallow, 


April 13, 


4. Martin, 


Ibid. 


5. Sand-Martin, 


Ibid. 


6. Black-cap, 


Ibid. 


7. Nightingale, - 


Beginning of April. 


8. Cuckoo, 


Middle of April. 


9. Middle willow-wren, 


Ibid. 


10. White-throat, 


Ibid. 


11. Red-ftart, 


Ibid. 


12. Stone-curlew, 


End of March. 


IS Tnrtle-dovp- 




X \J m 1 UlUt UUVtj 

14. Grafshopper-lark, 


Middle of April. 


15. Swift, 


April 27. 


16. Lefs reed-fparrow, 






17. Land-rail, 

18. Large ft willow- wren, 




End of April. 


19. Goat- fucker, or fern-owl. 


Beginning of May. 


20. Fly-catcher, 


C May 12. This is the lateft 


£ fummer bird of paiTage. 



Moft foft-billed birds feed upon infects, and not on grain 
or feeds ; and, therefore, they retire before winter. But 
the following foft-billed birds, though they eat infects, remain 
with us during the whole year ; fuch as the red-breaft and 
wren, who frequent out-houfes and gardens during the win- 
ter, and eat fpiders, &c. ; the hedge-fparrow, who frequents 
finks for crumbs and other fweepings ; the white wagtail, 
the yellow-wagtail, and the gray wagtail, who frequent (hal- 
low rivulets near the fpring heads, where the water feldom 



483 THE PHILOSOPHY 

freezes, and feed upon the aureliae of infects ; the wheatear, 
fome of which are to be feen during the winter, &c. 

Lift $f Winter Birds of Paffage in the neighbourhood of Selborne. 

1. The ring-oufel. This bird appears about Michaelmas 
week, and is a new migration lately difcovered by Mr. White. 

2. The red-wing, or wind-thrufh, appears in Britain about 
old Michaelmas. They come in great flocks from the froz- 
en regions of the north, 

3. Field-fare. Thefe birds vifit Britain in immenfe nuuw 
bers about Michaelmas, and depart about the end of Febru-* 
ary, or the beginning of March. They pafs the funimer in 
the northern parts of Europe, and likewife in Lower Auftria*, 
They breed in the largeil trees, feed on berries of all kinds-f-, 
but prefer thofe of the juniper. It is probable that the field- 
fares which migrate into Britain come from Norway and the 
northern regions of Europe, becaufe we find that they both 
breed and winter in Pruffia, Auftria:};, and the more temper- 
ate climates. 

4. The Royfton-crow, or hooded crow of our countryman 
Sir Robert Sibbald, is likewife a bird of paffage. It vifits us 
in the beginning of winter, and departs with the wood-cocks. 
They frequent the inland as well as the maritime parts of 
Britain. When near the coafts, they feed upon crabs, muf- 
cles, and other fhell-fifhes. They breed in Sweden, build 
their nefts in trees, and lay four eggs||. They likewife breed 
in the fouthern parts of Germany, and particularly on the 
banks of the Danube f . 

5. The wood-cock appears in this country about old Mi- 
chaelmas. During the fummer, wood- cocks inhabit the 
Alps**, Norway, Sweden-j-f , and the northern parts of Eu-. 

* Kramer Elcnch, page 361. f Linn. Faun. Suec. fp. 78. 

I Klein Hilt. Avium, page 178. 

|| Linn. Faun. Suec. fp. 88. % Kramer, page 333. 

** Willoughby's Ornithology, page 290. 

ff M. de Gecr's and Dr. Wallerius'a letters to Mr. Pennant 



OF NATURAL HISTORY, 48& 

rope. From thefe countries they retire as foon as the froft com- 
mences, which obliges them to migrate into milder climates, 
where the foil is open, and more adapted to their mode of 
feeding ; for they live ©n worms, which they fearch for with 
their long bills in foft and moift grounds in the midft of woods. 
Wood-cocks, taking the advantage of the night, or of foggy- 
weather, arrive here in flocks : But they foon feparate j and, 
before returning to their fummer quarters, they pair. They 
fly and feed during the night. They begin their flight in 
the evening, and return to their retreats in the glades when 
day commences. They depart from Britain about the end of 
February or the beginning of March. Some of them, how* 
ever, like the ftraggling fwallows, have been known to breed, 
and to remain here during the whole year*. It is likewife 
known that wook-cocks migrate from France, Germany, and 
Italy, and that they make choice of cold northern climates 
for their fummer refidence. About the end of October they 
vifit Burgundy, but remain there four or five weeks only j 
becaufe it is a dry country, and, on the flrft frofts 5 they are 
obliged to retire for want of fuftenance. In the winter, 
they are found as far fouth as Smyrna, Aleppof, and Barba-* 
ryj. They are even very common in Japan ||. 

6. The fnipe. Snipes are enrolled as birds of paflage by 
Mr. White, though he acknowledges that fome of them con-, 
ftantly breed in England. * In winter/ Mr. Pennant re-- 
marks, c fnipes are very frequent in all our marfhy and 

< wet grounds, where they lie concealed in the rufhes, &c. In 
f the fummer, they difperfe to different parts, and are found 

< in the midft of our higheft mountains, as well as our low 

< moors. Their neft is made of dried grafs. They lay four 
* eggs of a dirty olive colour, marked with dufky fpots, 

* Pennant's Brittfh Zoology, vol. 2. page 349. 8vo. 

■\ Ruffel's Hiftory of Aleppo, page 64, \ Shaw's Travels, page 2££« 

|| Kaempfer's Hid, Japan, vol, l, pagj 139. 



490 THE PHILOSOPHY 

c Their young are fo often found in England, that we doubt 
* whether they ever entirely leave this ifland*. 

7. The jack-fnipe. This bird, which is very common in 
Scotland, and frequents the banks of rivers and lakes, is rank- 
ed by Mr. White as a winter bird of pafiage, without men- 
tioning either the time of its arrival or departure ; and Mr. 
Pennant is entirely filent on the fubject f . 

8. The wood-pigeon. Mr. White, without mentioning 
either the time of their appearing or difappearing, tells us, 
that ' they feldom appear till late ; nor in fuch plenty as 
« formerlyf.' 

9. The wild-fwan. During hard winters, this bird fre- 
quents the coafts of Britain in large flocks ; but, from any 
information we have been able to obtain, it does not breed in 
our ifland. Martin, in his Hiftory of the Hebrides, or Wef- 
tern Ifles||, informs us, that wild fwans arrive in great num- 
bers in Lingey, one of the Hebrides, in the month of Octo- 
ber, and remain there till March, when they retire more 
northward to breed. For this purpofe, the fwans like moft 
other water-fowls, prefer fuch places as are leaft frequent- 
ed by mankind. During fummer, the lakes, marines, and 
forefts of Lapland are filled with myriads of water-fowls. In 
that northern region, fwans, geefe, the duck tribe, goofand- 
ers, divers, &c. pafs the fummer •, but in autumn they re- 
turn to us, and to other more hofpitable fhores§. 

10. The wild-goofe. The wild geefe, it is probable, breed 
in the retired regions of the north. They arrive here in 
the beginning of winter, and frequently feed on our corn 
grounds. They fly at a great heighth, and obferve regulari- 

* Pennant's Britifh Zoology, vol. a, page 358. 8vo. 
f White's Natural Hiftory of Selborne, page 117. ; and Pennant's Britifh Zoo* 
logy, vol. 1. page 359. 8vo. 

\ White's Natural Hiftory of Selborne, page 117. 

(J Delcription of the Wellern Ifles, page 7 r. 
$ Linn, Flora Lapponica, page 273. Oeuvres de Maupertuis,tom. 3. page 141. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. £§1 

ty in their movements. They fometimes form a ftraight 
line ; and, at others, they affume the fhape of a wedge, 
which facilitates their progrefs through the refitting air. 

With regard to the wild-duck, pochard, wigeon, and teal, 
though Mr. White places them in the lift of birds of pafTage, 
he does not mention either the times of their arrival or de- 
parture. Though it be probable that moft of the duck-kind 
migrate, yet it is certain, that fome individuals of different 
fpecies of them breed in this country, and continue in it dur- 
ing the whole year. As to the duck-kind in general, Mr. 
Pennant remarks : c Of the numerous fpecies that form this 
c genus, we know of no more than five that breed here. The 

* tame/wan and tame goofe, the Shield duck, the eider duck, and 
c a very fmall portion of the wild ducks. The reft contribute 

* to form that amazing multitude of water fowl that annually 

* repair from moft parts of Europe to the woods and 

* lakes of Lapland, and other Arctic regions*, there to per- 
' form the functions of incubation and nutrition in full fecu- 
« rity. They and their young quit their retreat in Septem- 
c ber, and difperfe themfelves over Europe. With us they 
c make their appearance the beginning of October, circulate 
c firft round our fliores, and when compelled by fevere froft, 
1 betake themfelves to our lakes and riversf .' 

In winter, the bernacles, or brent-ducks, appear in vafl 
flocks on the north-weft coafts of Britain. They are very 
fhy and wild ; but, when taken, they foon grow as familiar 
as our domeftic ducks. They leave the Britifh fhores in Fe- 
bruary, and migrate as far as Lapland, Greenland, and even 
SpitfbergenJ. 

The folan-geefe, or gannats, are likewife birds of paffage. 
They frequent the ifle of Ailfay, near the Frith of Clyde ; 

* Colled. Voyag. Dutch Eaft India Company, 8vo, 1703. page 19. Clufi 
Exot. page 368. 

f Pennant's Britilh Zoology, voL a. page 519. 520. 
\ Linn, Araoen Acad. torn. 4. ]5age 585. Barent's Voyage, page 19. 



492 THE PHILOSOPHY 

the rocks adjacent to St. Kilda, the moft remote of the He*- 
brides ; the Skelig ifles, off the coaft of Kerry -, and the Bafs 
ifle in the Frith of Fourth. The multitudes which frequent 
thefe places are prodigious. To give an idea of their num- 
bers, the reader will not be difpleafed to fee Dr. Harvey's 
fhort account of the Bafs. « There is a fmall ifland in the 

* Frith of Fourth, called the Bafs Ifland, which does not ex^ 
' ceed one mile in circumference. The furface of this ifland, 
1 during the months of May and June, is fo entirely covered 
« with nefts, eggs, and young birds, that it is fcarcely poflible 
c to walk without treading on them. The flocks of birds 
« on the wing are fo prodigious, that they darken the air 
« like clouds, and their noife is fo great, that a man cannot 
« without difficulty hear his neighbour's voice. If, from the 

* top of the precipice, you look down upon the fea, you will 

< fee it on every fide covered with infinite numbers of birds 

< of different kinds, fwimming about and hunting for their 
€ prey. When failing round the ifland, if you furvey the 

* hanging cliffs, you will perceive, in every cragg, or fiffure 
% of the rocks, innumerable birds of various kinds, more than 
1 the ftars of heaven in a ferene night. If you view the dif- 
f tant flocks, either flying to or from the ifland, you will" 
« imagine them to be a vaft fwarm of bees*.' The rocks of 
St. Kilda feem to be equally frequented by folan geefe ; for 
Martin, in his defcription of the Hebrides, informs us, that 
the inhabitants of this fmall ifland confume annually no lefs 
than 22,600 young birds of this fpecies, befide an amazing 
number of their eggs. The folan gee^e and their eggs con- 
flitute the chief food of thefe iflanders. They preferve both 
the fowls and the eggs in fmall pyramidal fione buildings, 
which, to protect the food from moifture, they cover with 
the afhes of turf. The folan gee^e are birds of paffage. 
Their firft appearance is in March, and they continue till 

* Hervey de Generat. AnimaL Exercit. 1 1. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 493 

Auguft or September. But, in general, the times of their 
breeding and departure feem to coincide with the arrival of 
the herring, and the migration of that fifh from our coafts. 
It is more than probable that thefe birds attend the herrings 
and pilchards during their whole circuit round the Britifh 
iflands ; for the appearance of the folan geek is always ef- 
teemed by the fifhermen as a certain prefage of the approach 
of the herrings or pilchards. In queft of food, thefe birds 
migrate as far fouth as the mouth of the Tagus ; for they are 
frequently feen off Lifbon during the month of December. 

The crofs-beak, the crofs-bill, and the filk-tail, are likewife 
enumerated by Mr. White as birds of paffage. « But thefe/ 
fays he, « are only wanderers that appear occafionally, and 
■ are not obfervant of any regular migration*.' 

The long-legged plover, and fanderling, viiit us in winter 
only ; and it is worthy of remark, that every fpecies of the 
curlews, wood-cocks, fand-pipers, and ploversf , which for- 
fake us in the fpring, retire to Sweden, Poland, Pruffia, Nor- 
way, and Lapland, both to feed and to breed. They return 
to us as foon as the young are able to fly ; becaufe the frofts, 
which fet in early in thefe countries, totally deprive them of 
the means of fubfiftence. For the fame reafon they leave 
ns in fummer, as the drynefs and hardnefs of the ground 
prevent them from penetrating the earth with their bills in 
queft of worms, which conftitute the natural food of theft 
birds. 

From the facts which have been enumerated, and from 
others of a fimilar nature, it is evident, that many birds, both 
of the land and water kinds, migrate from one climate to 
another. But, even in the fame climate and country, birds 
occafionally perform partial migrations. During hard win- 
ters, when the furface of the earth is covered with fnow, 

* White's Natural Hiftory of Selborne, page n8. 
f Linn. Amoen. Acad. torn. 4. page 588. Klein de Avium Migrat.page 187. 

O o o * 



494 THE PHILOSOPHY 

many birds, as larks, fnipes, &c. retire from the inland part$ 
of the country to the fea-fhores, where they pick up a fcan- 
ty fubfiftance. Others, as the wren, the red-breaft, and many 
of the fmall birds, or fparrow-kind, refort to gardens, and 
the^habitations of men. Their intention, it is obvious, is to 
procure food and fhelter. 

There are three principle objects of migration : Food, 
temperature of air, and convenient fituations for breeding. 
Such birds as migrate to great diftances are alone denominat- 
ed birds cfpajfage. But all birds are, in fome meafure, birds 
of paffage, though they do not migrate to places fo remote 
from their fomer abodes. At particular times of the year, 
moft birds migrate from one county to another, or from the 
more inland diftricls toward the fhores. Thefe partial mi- 
grations of fmall birds are well known to bird-catchers, who 
make a livelihood by enfnaring them into their nets, 
and felling them. The birds Jty y as the bird-catchers term 
it, about the end of September, and during the months of 
October and November. There is another, but lefs confid- 
erable, flight in March. Some begin their flight annually 
about Michaelmas ; others, as the wood-larks, fucceed, and 
continue their flight till the middle of October j but the 
green-finch does not migrate till the froft obliges it to remove 
in queft of food and fhelter. Thefe partial migrations, or 
Sittings, are performed from day-break till noon. Another, 
but fmaller, flight commences at two o'clock, and continues 
till night approaches. The times when particular birds mi- 
grate from one fituation to another are well known to the 
bird-catchers, who, by means of call-birds, nets, and other 
devices, feize great numbers of them, and, after accuftoming 
them for fome time to reftraint and flavery, fell them, for 
conflderable prices, to curious men and whimfical women. 
A diligent attention to thefe partial migrations, and iheir 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 405 

motives, would foon unfold the caufes of thofe of a more ex-* 
tenfive kind. 

Migration is generally fuppofed to be peculiar to the feath- 
ered tribes. This is a limited idea, which has originated 
from inattention to the oeconomy of Nature. Birds migrate 
with a view to remedy the inconveniencies of their prefent 
fituation, and to acquire a more commodious ftation with re- 
gard to food, temperature, generation, and fhelter. From 
fimilar motives, men, fometimes in amazing multitudes, have 
migrated from north to fbuth, difplaced the native inhabi- 
tants, and fixed eftablifhments in more comfortable climates 
than thofe which they had relinquished. Thele, in their 
turn, have fallen victims to frefh and barbarous emigrants. 
Among the inhabitants of the more northern nations, as 
Norway, Sweden, Scotland, &c. notwithftanding a very ftrong 
attachment to their native countries, there feems to be a na- 
tural or inftinctive propeniity to migrate. Poverty, the rig- 
our of climate, curiofity, ambition, the falfe reprefentations 
of interefted individuals, the oppreflion of feudal barons, and 
fimilar circumftances, have of late given rife to great emigra- 
tions of the human fpecies. But, it is worthy of remark, 
that the emigrations from fouth to north, except from the 
love of conqueft in ambitious nations, are fo rare, that the 
inftinct feems hardly to exift in thofe more fortunate climates. 
Curiofity is a general inftinctive principle, which operates 
ftrongly in the youthful periods of life, and flimulates every 
man to vifit places that are diftant from his ordinary refi- 
dence. This innate defire is influenced by the relations of 
travellers, and by many other incentives of a more interefted 
kind. "Without the principle of migration, mankind, it is 
probable, would never have been fo univerfally diffused over 
the furface of the earth. It is counterbalanced, however, 
by attachment to thofe countries which gave us birtL^ a prin- 
ciple ftill more powerful and efficient. Love of our native 



496 THE PHILOSOPHY 

country js fo ftrong, that, after gratifying the migrating 
principle, almoft every man feels a longing deiire to return. 

Savages, as long as their ftore of food remains unexhauft- 
ed, continue in a liftlefs inactive ftate. They exhauft many 
days fitting in perfect indolence, and feem not to be prompt- 
ed by any motives of curiofity. They have not a concep- 
tion of a man's walking either for amufement or exercife. 
But, when their provifions begin to fail, an aftonifhing re- 
verfe takes place. They then roufe as from a profound 
fleep. In queft of wild beafts, birds, and fifties, they mi- 
grate to immenfe diftances, exert the greateft feats of activi- 
ty, and undergo incredible hardfhips and fatigue. After ac- 
quiring a ftore of provifions, they return to their wonted 
haunts, and remain inactive till their food again begins to 
fail. 

Quadrupeds likewife perform partial migrations. At the 
approach of winter, the flag, the rein-deer, and the roebuck, 
leave the tops of the lofty mountains, and come down to the 
plains and copfes. Their chief objects, in thefe flittings, are 
food and fhelter. When fummer commences, they are har- 
rafled with different fpecies of winged infects, and, to avoid 
thefe enemies, they regain the fummits of the mountains, 
where the cold and the heighth of the fituation protect them 
from the attacks of the flies. In Norway, and the more 
northern regions of Europe, the oxen, during the winter, 
migrate to the fhores of the fea, where they feed upon fea- 
plants and the bones of fifties *, and Pontoppidan remarks, 
that the cattle know by inftinct when the tide retires, and 
leaves thefe articles of food upon the fhore. In Orkney and 
Shetland, the fheep in winter, for the fame purpofes, uni- 
formly repair to the fhore at the ebbing of the tides. Rats, 
particularly thofe of the northern regions of Europe, ap- 
pear, from time to time, in fuch myriads, that the inhabi- 
tants of Norway and Lapland imagine the animals fall from 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 497 

heaven. The celebrated Linnaeus, who paid great attention 
to the oeconomy of thefe migrating rats, remarked, that they 
appeared in Sweden periodically every eighteen or twenty 
years. When about to migrate, they leave their wonted 
abodes, and aftemble together in numbers inconceivable. In 
the courfe of their journey, they make tracks in the earth 
of two inches in depth ; and thefe tracks fometimes occupy 
a breadth of feveral fathoms. What is lingular, the rats, in 
their march, uniformly purfue a straight line, unlefs they are 
forced to turn afide by fome unfurmountable obftacle. If they 
meet with a rock, they firft try to pierce it, and, after difcov- 
ering the attempt to be impracticable, they go round it, and 
then refiime the ftraight line. Even a lake does not inter- 
rupt their paffage •, for they either traverfe it in a ftraight 
line or perifh in the attempt ; and, if they meet with a bark 
or other vefTel, they do not alter their direction, but climb 
up the one fide of it and defcend by the other. 

Frogs, immediately after their transformation from the 
tadpole ftate, leave the water, and migrate to the meadow or 
marfhy grounds in queft of infects. The numbers of young 
frogs which fuddenly make their appearance in the plains in- 
duced Rondeletius, and many other naturalifts, to imagine. 
that they were generated in the clouds and fhowered down 
upon the earth. But if, like the worthy and intelligent Mr. 
Derham, they had examined the fituation of the place with 
regard to ftagnating waters, and attended to the nature and 
transformation of the animals, they would foon have difcov- 
ered the real caufe of the phenomenon. 

Of all migrating animals, particular kinds of fifties make 
the longed journies, and in the greateft. numbers. The mul- 
tiplication of the fpecies, and the procuring of food, are the 
principal motives of the migration of fifties. The falmon, a 
fifti which makes regular migrations, frequents the northern 
regions alone. It is unknown in the Mediterranean fea, and 
in the rivers which fall into it both from Europe and Africa. 



THE PHILOSOPHY 

It is found in fome of the rivers of France that empty them- 
felves into the ocean*. Salmons are taken in the rivers of 
Kamtfchatkaf, and appear as far north as Greenland. Sal- 
mons live both in the orean, and in frefh waters. For the 
purpofe of depofiting their fpawn, they quit the fea in the 
month of ^September, and afcend the rivers. So ftrong is 
the inftincl: of migrating, that they prefs up the rivers with 
amazing keennefs, and fcarcely any obftacle is fufficient to 
interrupt their progrefs. They fpring, with great agility, 
over cataracts of feveral feet in heighth. In their leaps, 
they fpring ftraight up with a ftrong tremulous motion, and 
do not, as has been vulgarly fuppofed, put their tails in their 
mouths. When they find a place which they think proper 
for depofiting their eggs, the male and female unite their 
labours in forming a convenient receptacle for the fpawn in 
tjie fand, which is generally about eighteen inches deep. In 
this hole the female depofits her eggs, and the mothers milt, 
which they are faid to cover carefully with their tails ; for, 
after fpawning, their tails are deprived of fkin. The eggs, 
when not difturbed by violent floods, lie buried in the fand 
till the fpring, and they are hatched about the end of March. 
The parents, however, after this important office has been 
performed, haften back to the fea, in order to cleanfe them- 
felves, and to recover their ftrength. Toward the end of 
March, the young fry begin to appear, and they gradually 
increafe in fize till they acquire the length of four or five 
inches, and are then called fmehs, or fmoults%. About the 
beginning of May, all the coniiderable rivers of Scotland are 
full of falmon-fry. After this period, they migrate to 
the Sea. About the middle of June, the earlieft of the fry 
tjegin to appear again in the rivers. At that time they are 

* Rondelct. de Fluviat. page 167. 
f Hifl. Kamtfchatka, page J43. 
\ See an account of the Salmon Fifhery on the river Tweed, communicated 
to Mr. Pennant by Mr, Potts, Frit Zool. vol. 3. page 241. 8vo. edit' 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 499 

from twelve to fixteen inches long, and gradually augment, 
both in number and fize, till about the end of July or begin- 
ning of Auguft, when they weigh from fix lo nine pounds. 
This is a very rapid growth. But a gentleman of credit at 
Warrington informed Mr. Pennant of a growth (till more 
rapid. A falmon, weighing feven pounds and three quar- 
ters, was taken on the feventh day of February. It was mar- 
ked on the back, fin, and tail, with fciffars, and then turned 
into the river. It was retaken on the 1 7th day of the fol- 
lowing month of March, and then it weighed feventeen 
pounds and a half. The feafon for fifhing, falmon in the 
Tweed begins on the 30th of November, and ends on old 
Michaelmas day. In that fingle river, it is computed that 
no lefs than 208000, at a medium, are annually caught, 
which, together with the products of many other rivers on 
both fides of Scotland, not only afford a wholefome and pal- 
atable food to the inhabitants, but form no inconliderable 
article of commerce. 

Herrings are likewife actuated by the migrating principle. 
Thefe fifties are chiefly confined to the northern and tem- 
perate regions of the globe. They frequent the higheft lati- 
tudes, and are fometimes found on the northern coafts of 
France. They appear in vaft flioals on the coaft of America, as 
far fouth as Carolina. In Chefapeak bay there is an annual in- 
undation of herrings ; and Mr. Catefby informs us, that they 
cover the fhores in fuch amazing numbers as to become offen- 
fivetothe inhabitants. The great winter rendezvous of the 
herrings is within, or near the Arctic Circle, where they re- 
main feveral months, and acquire ftrength after being weaken- 
ed by the fatigues of fpawning, and of a long migration. In 
thefe feas, infect food is much more abundant than in warm- 
er latitudes. They begin their migration fouthward in the 
fpring, and*appear off the Shetland iflands in the months of. 
April and May. Thefe, however, are only the forerunners 



500 THE PHILOSOPHY 

of the irnmenfe flioal which arrives in June. Their approach 
is recognifed by particular figns, fuch as the appearance of 
certain fifhes, the vaft number of birds, as gannets or folan 
geefe, which follow the fhoal to prey upon the herrings. But 
when the main body arrives, its breadth and depth are fo 
great as to change the appearance of the ocean itfelf. The 
flioal is generally divided into columns of five or fix miles in 
length, and three or four in breadth. Their progreffive mo- 
tion creates a kind of rippling or fmall undulations in the 
water. They fometimes fink and difappear for ten or fifteen 
minutes, and then rife again toward the furface. When the 
fun mines, a variety of fplendid and beautiful colours are 
reflected from their bodies. In their progrefs fouthward, 
the firft interruption they meet with is from the Shetland 
iflands. Here the fhoal divides into two branches. One branch 
fkirts the eaftern, and the other the weftern fhores of Great 
Britain, and fill every bay and creek with their numbers. 
Thofe which proceed to the weft from Shetland, after vifit- 
ing the Hebrides, where the great fifhery is carried on, move 
on till they are again interrupted by the north of Irelandj 
which obliges them to divide a fecond time. One divifion 
takes to the weft, where they are fcarcely perceived, being 
foon loft in the immenfity of the Atlantic Ocean. The oth- 
er divifion goes into the Irifli fea, and affords nourifhment 
to many thoufands of the human race. The chief object of 
herrings migrating fouthward is to depofit their fpawn in 
warmer and more fhallowfeas than thofe of the Frigid Zone. 
This inftincl feems not to be prompted by a fcarcity of food ; 
for, when they arrive upon our coafts, they are fat and in 
fine condition ; but, when returning to the ocean, they are 
weak and emaciated. They continue in perfection from 
the end of June to the beginning of winter, when they be- 
gin to depofit their fpawn. The great ftations of the her- 
ring fifheries are off the Shetland and the weftern iflands, 
and along the coaft of Norfolk. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 501 

feefld'e falmons and herrings, there are many fifties which 
obferve a regular migration, as mackerels, lampreys, pil- 
chards, &c. About the middle of July, the pilchards which 
are a fpecies of herrings, though fmaller, appear in vaft fhoals 
off the coafts of CornwalL When winter approaches, like 
the herrings, they retire to the Arctic feas. Though fo near- 
ly allied to the herring, it is not incurious to remark, that 
the pilchards, in their migration for the purpofe of {pawning, 
choofe a warmer latitude ; for, off the coaft of Britain, the 
great fhoals never appear farther north than the county of 
Cornwall and the Scilly iflands. Dr. Borlafe, in his hiftory 
of Cornwall, gives the following account of the pilchard fifh- 
ery : « It employs,* fays he, c a great number of men on the 
c fea, training them thereby to naval affairs ; employs men, 

* women, and children, at land, in faking, preffing, wafhing, 

* and cleaning, in making boats, nets, ropes, cafks, and all the 

* trades depending on their conftrudlion and fale. The poor 

* is fed with the offals of the captures, the land with the re- 
4 fufe of the fifh and fait ; the merchant finds the gains of 

* commiffion and honeft commerce, the fifherman the gains 

* of the fifh. Ships are often freighted hither with fait, and 

* into foreign countries with the fifh, carrying off, at the 

* fame time, part of our tin. The ufual produce of the num- 

* ber of hogfheads exported each year, for ten years, from 
c 1747 to 1756 inclufive, from the four ports of Tawy, Fal- 

* mouth, Penzance, and St. Ives, it appears, that Tawy has 

* exported yearly 1732 hogfheads ; Falmouth, 14631 hogf- 

* heads and two thirds -, Penzance and Mounts-Bay, 12149 
< hogfheads and one third ; St. Ives, 1282 hogfheads : In all 
■ amounting to 29795 hogfheads. Every hogfhead, for ten 

* years laft paft, together with the bounty allowed for each . 
« hogfhead exported, and the oil made out of each hogfhead, 

* has amounted, one year with another at an average, to the 

* price of one pound thirteen millings and three pence ; fo 

P p p 



&0% THE PHILOSOPHY 

* that the cafh paid for pilchards exported has, at a medium, 
« annually amounted to the fum of L. 49532 : 10 : 0.' 

Of the land- crab there are feveral fpecies.' The migra- 
tion of what is called the violet land-crab deferves fome notice. 
It inhabits the warmer regions of Europe : But its particular 
refidence is in the tropical climates of Africa and America. 
Land-crabs generally frequent the mountainous parts of the 
country, which are, of courfe, moft remote from the fea. 
They inhabit the hollows of old trees, the clefts of rocks, and 
holes which they themfelves dig in the earth. They are ex- 
tremely numerous. In the months of April and May, they 
leave their retreats in the mountains, and march in millions 
to the fea-fhore. At this period the whole ground is cover- 
ed with them ; and a man can hardly put down his foot 
without treading on them*. The object of their migration 
is to deposit their fpawn on the fea-fhore. In their progrefs 
towards the fea, like the northern rats, the land-crabs move 
in a ftraight line. Even when a houfe intervenes, inftead 
of deviating to the right or left, they attempt to fca*le the 
walls. But, when they meet with a river, they are obliged 
to wind along the courfe of the ftream. In their migration 
from the mountains, they obferve the greateft. regularity and 
commonly divide into three battalions or bodies. The firft 
confifts of the ftrongeft and boldeft males, who, like pioneers, 
march forward to clear the route, and to face the greateft 
dangers. The females, who form the main body, defcend 
from the mountains in regular columns, which are fifty paces 
broad, three miles long, and fo clofe that they almoft entire- 
ly cover the ground. Three or four days afterwards, the 
rear-guard follows, which confifts of a ftraggling undifciplin* 
ed troop of males and females. They travel chiefly during 
the night ; ; but, if it rains by day, (for moifture facilitates 
their motion), they proceed in their flow uniform manner. 
* Voyage aux Hies Francoifcs par Labat, torn. 2. page 22 1. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 303 

When the fun {nines, and the furface of the ground is dry, 
they make an univerfal halt till the evening, and then refume 
their march. When alarmed with danger, they run back- 
ward in a diforderly manner, and hold up their nippers in a 
threatening pofture. They even feem to intimidate their 
enemies ; for, when difturbed, they make a clattering noife 
with their nippers. But, though they endeavour to render 
themfelves formidable to their enemies, they are cruel to each 
other. When an individual, by any accident, is fo maimed 
that he cannot proceed, his companions immediately devour 
him, and then purfue their journey. After a fatiguing and 
tedious march, which fometimes continues three months be- 
fore they reach the fhore, they prepare themfelves for de- 
pofiting their fpawn. The eggs ftill remain in the bodies of 
the animals, and are not excluded, as ufual to this genus, un- 
der the tail. To facilitate the maturation and exclufion of 
the eggs, the land-crabs no fooner arrive on the fhore, than 
they approach to the margin of the fea, and allow the waves to 
pafs feveral times over their bodies. They immediately re- 
tire to the land ; the eggs, in the mean time, come nearer 
to maturity, and the animals once more go to the water, de- 
pofit their eggs, and leave the event to Nature. The bunch- 
es of fpawn are fometimes as large as a hen's egg ; and it is 
not incurious to remark, that, at this very period, numbers 
of fifties of different kinds are anxioufly waiting for this an- 
nual fupply of food. Whether the painful migration of the 
land-crabs, or the wonderful inftinct of the fifties which 
await their arrival, in order to devour their fpawn, is the 
moft aftonifhing fact, we fhall leave to the confideration of 
philofophers. The eggs which efcape thefe voracious fifties 
are hatched under the fand. Soon after, millions of minute 
crabs are feen leaving the fhore, and migrating {lowly to- 
ward the mountains. Moft of the old ones, however, re- 
main in the flat parts of the country till they regain their 



5Q& THE PHILOSOPHY 

ftrength. They dig holes in the earth, the mouths of which 
they cover with leaves and mud. Here they throw off their 
old {hells, remain quite naked, and almoft without motion 
for fix days, when they become fo fat that they are efteemed 
delicious food. When the new fhell has hardened, the ani- 
mals, by an inftinctive impulfe, march back to thofe moun- 
tains which they had formerly deferted. In Jamaica, where 
they are numerous, the land-crabs are regarded as great deli- 
cacies ; and they are fo abundant, that the flaves are often 
fad entirely upon them. 

The migrating principle is not confined to men, quadru- 
peds, birds, and reptiles : It extends to many of the infeft 
tribes. Numberlefs inhabitants of the air pafs the firft flages 
of their exiftence in the waters. There they remain for 
longer or fhorter periods, according to the fpecies. Previous 
to their transformation into chryfalids, they quit the waters, 
and come upon dry ground, where they undergo their amaz- 
ing change. Inftead of active water-worms, they dig or find 
holes in the earth, where they are converted into chryfalids, 
or feemingly inanimated beings, and, in a {hort time, mount 
into the air in the form of winged infects. Similar migra- 
tions are to be obferved among land-infects. But migration 
is not confined to water-worms. Many fpecies of caterpil- 
lars which feed upon the leaves of trees, fhrubs, and other 
vegetables, when about to undergo their transformation, 
leave their former abodes, defcend from the trees, and con- 
ceal themfelves in the earth. The hiving of bees, when nu-? 
merous colonies remove in order to efhblifh new fettlements, 
is another inftance of the migration of infects. Indeed, if 
we except bees, wafps, ants, and a few others, moft infects, 
whether they inhabit the air, the earth, or the waters, are 
perfect wanderers, having no fixed place of refidence. Some 
of them, as the fpider tribes, build temporary apartments ; 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 505 

but, when difturbed, they migrate to another commodious 
place, and erect new habitations. 

From the facts which have been enumerated, it is appar- 
ent, that the principle of migration, or the defire of change 
ing fituations, is not confined to particular birds, but ex- 
tends through almoft the whole fyftem of animation. Men, 
quadrupeds, birds, fifties, reptiles, infects, all afibrd ftriking 
examples of the migrating principle. From the fame facts 
it is equally apparent, that the general motives for migrating 
are fimilar in every ciafs of animals. Food, multiplication 
of fpecies, and a comfortable temperature of air, are evident- 
ly the chief caufes which induce animals to remove from one 
place to another, or, what amounts to the fame thing, from 
one climate to another. Partial emigrations, or emigrations to 
fmall diftances, are prompted by the fame inftinctive motives 
which induce animals of a different ftruclure to undertake 
long and fatiguing excurfions. But, previous to actual mi- 
gration, what are the peculiar feelings of different animals, 
and what fhould ftimulate them to proceed uniformly in the 
direction that ultimately leads them to the fituations moft 
accommodated to their wants and their confutations, are 
myfteries, with regard to which, like every other part of the 
oeconomy of Nature, it is the duty of philofophers, inftead 
of attempting to pufh their inquiries beyond the bounds of 
human ability, to obferve a refpectable filence, 



5QG THE PHILOSOPHY 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Of the Longevity and JDiJJblution of Organifed Bodies. 

J.T is a law of Nature, though a melancholy one, 
that all organifed bodies fhould be diffblved. The periods 
of dhTolution, however, are as various as the fpecies, and the 
intentions of Nature in producing them. 

In the human kind, the brevity of life is regarded as an 
object of regret. One half of mankind die before they ar- 
rive at eight years of age. From that early period to eighty, 
befide the deftruc"lion of war, and other accidents, Nature 
kills them annually in millions. Some inftances may be giv- 
en of men whofe lives were prolonged beyond the ufual pe- 
riod of human exiftence. Such men are not to be envied ; 
nor fhould they be considered as favourites of Nature. With 
refpecT: to maturity of judgment, and a knowledge of the 
world* no man can be faid to exift till he palTes thirty years 
of age. Give him thirty or thirty-five more, and, in gener^ 
al, both mind and body are vifibly declined. Thofe people, 
therefore, who arrive at an extraordinary age may be faid to 
exift, but they do not live. All intellectnal enjoyments and 
exertions, which conftitute the chief dignity and happinefs 
of man, are gone. There are exceptions ; but thefe excep- 
tions are confirmations of what we have advanced. Man- 
kind, in the early ages of the world, have been faid to live 
for feveral centuries. We mean not to contradict the afTer- 
tion. But we muft remark, that, if ever men lived fa long, 
th^y muft have been very different both in the ftruclure of 
their bodies and in their manners, from thofe who now exift. 
From infancy to manhood, there is a gradual growth or ex- 
tension of our organs, After this period, and when we ad- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 507 

Vance in years, the bones harden, the mufcles turn {tiff, the 
cartilages are converted into bones, the membranes into car- 
tilages, the ftomach and bowels lofe their tone, and the 
whole fabric, inftead of being (oft, flexible, and obedient to 
the inclinations, or even the commands of the mind, becomes 
rigid, inactive, and feeble. Thefe are the general and pro- 
greflive caufes of death, and they are common to all animals. 
There are modes of living more favourable to health than 
others. But examples are not wanting of men who have ar- 
rived at extreme old age, without obferving either temper- 
ance, or any of the other modes of living which are general- 
ly fuppofed to be favourable to longevity, Some men, who 
lived temperately, and even abftemioufly, have reached to 
great ages : Others, who obferved the very oppofite conduct, 
who lived freely, and often intemperately, have had their ex- 
iftence equally prolonged. But, in general, notwithstanding 
a few exceptions, temperance, a placid and chearful difpofU 
tion, moderate exercife, and proper exertions of mind, con- 
tribute, in no uncommon degree, to the prolongation of life. 

A few examples of longevity in the human fpecies, Though 
no general conclusions can be drawn from them, may not be 
incurious to the reader. We fliall not go back to a remote 
and obfcure antiquity, but confine ourfelves to more modern 
times, when the modes of living were nearly the fame as they 
are at prefent. 

On this fubject, the celebrated Lord Verulam, in his Syl- 
va Sylvarum*, gives the following paffage, chiefly tranflated 
from the feventh book of Pliny's Natural Hiftory : * The 
« year of our Lord feventy-fix, falling into the time of Vef- 

* pafian, is memorable ; in which we fliall find, as it were a 
< kalendar of long-lived men : For that year there was a tax- 

* ing, (now a taxing is the moft authentical and trueft inform- 
c er touching the ages of men), and in that part of Italy which 
« lieth between the Appennine mountains and the river Po> 

* Page 293. 



SOS THE PHILOSOPHY 

* there were found 124 perfons that either equalled or ex- 

* ceed an hundred years of age, namely, 

« Fifty-four - - - of 100 years each. 

< Fifty-feven - - - 110 
'Two .... 12-5 

< Four - - 130 

■ Four - 135 or 137 

< Three - - - - 140 

* Befide thefe, Parma, in particular, afforded five, whereof, 
1 Three were - 120 years each. 

'Two ... 130 

1 One in Bruxelles - - 125 

f One in Placentia - - 131 

* One in Faventia - *- 132 

c A certain town, then called Velleiatium, fituate in the 
f hills about Placentia, afforded ten, whereof 

' Six were - - - - i 1 years each. 

« Four - 120 

« One in Rimino, whofe name was 
* Marcus Aponius - . 150.' 

The mod extraordinary inftance of longevity in Great 
Britain was exhibited in the perfon of Henry Jenkins. He 
was a native of Yorkfhire, lived to the amazing age of 169 
years, and died on the 8th day of December 1670. 

Next to Jenkins we have the famous Thomas Parre, who 
Was a native of Shropfhire, and died on the 16th day of 
November 1635, at the age of 152. 

Francis Confift, a native of Yorkshire, aged 150, died in 
January 1768. 

Margaret Forfter, aged 136, and her daughter, aged 104, 
were natives of Cumberland, and both alive in the year 1 771. 
William Evans, aged 145, lived in Carnarvon, and ftill 
exifted in the year 1782. 



Of NATURAL HISTOR*. 509 

Bumiter Radaloy, aged 140, lived ill Harmenftead, and 
died on the 16th day of January 1782. 

James Bowels, aged 152, lived in Killingworth, and died 
"on the 15th day of Auguft 1656. 

The Countefs of Defmond, in Ireland, faw her 140th year. 

Mr. Eclefton, a native of Ireland, lived to the age of 143> 
and died in the year 1691. 

John Mount, a native of Scotland, faw his 136th year* 
and died on the 27th day of February 1776. 
William Ellis of Liverpool died on the 1 6th day of Auguft 
1780, at the age of 130. 

Colonel Thomas Winfloe, a native of Ireland, aged 146, 
died on the 22d day of Auguft 1766. 

John Taylor was born in Carrygill, in the county of Cum- 
berland. He was bred a miner. His father died when 
John was only four years of age. Poverty obliged him to be 
Jet early to work. During two years he drefled lead ore for 
2 d. a-day. The next three or four years he affifted the 
miners in removing the ore and rubbifh to the bank, for 
which he received 4 d. a-day. At this period there happen- 
ed a great folar eclipfe, which was diftinguifhed in Scotland 
by the appellation of Mirk Monday*. This event, which he 
always repeated with the fame circumftances, is the chief 
aera from which John's age has been computed. After la- 
bouring many years both in this and the neighbouring king- 
dom, he died, near Leadhills in Scotland, in the month of 
May 1770, at the great age of 133. 

Though the above modem examples of extraordinary 
longevity reft chiefly on the authority of periodical publica- 
tions, yet there is not a doubt, that, in all countries, and at 
all times, fome perfons of both fexes have arrived at ages far 
beyond the common periods of human life. If the reader is 

* Mirk, in the Scottifh dialect, fignifies dark ; awl the cclipfe happened i» 
the year 165^ 

Qaq 



51$ THE PHILOSOPHY 

defirOus of feeing many inftances of longevity, he may Con- 
fult Bacon's Hiftory of Life and Death *, Whitehurft's Inquiry 
into the Original State and formation of the Earth f, and Dr. 
Fothergiirs Obfervations on Longevity \. 

The general caiifes of death have already been mentioned. 
But, in women, the operation of thefe caufes is frequently 
retarded. In the female fex, the bones, the cartilages, the 
mufcles, as well as every other part of the body, are fofter 
and lefs folid than thofe of men : Neither are they generally 
fo much iubjected to bodily exertions* Their conftituent 
parts, accordingly require more time in hardening to that 
degree which occafions death. Women of courfe ought to 
live longer than men. This reafoning is confirmed by the 
bills of mortality y for upon confulting them, it appears, that, 
after women have pafTed a certain time, they live much lon- 
ger than men who have reached the fame period. The du- 
ration of the lives of animals may in fome meafure be eftima- 
ted by the time occupied in their growth. An animal, or 
even a plant, as we learn from experience, which acquires 
maturity in a fhort time, perimes much fooner than thofe 
which are longer in arriving at that period. In the human 
fpecies, when individuals grow with uncommon rapidity, 
they generally die young. This circumftanee feems to have 
given rife to the common proverbial exprefhon, fon ripe feu 
rotten, Man grows in ftature till he be fixteen or eighteen 
years of age ; but the thicknefs of his body is not completely 
unfolded before that of thirty. Dogs acquire their full 
length in one year ; but their growth in thicknefs is not 
finifhed till the end of the fecond. A man, who continues 
to grow for thirty years, may live ninety or a hundred : But 
a dog, whofe growth terminates in two or three years, lives 
only ten or twelve. The fame obfervation is applicable to 

* SylvaSylvarum, page 273. &c. 

f 2d Edit page 1 65. 

\ Annual Regifter, Natural HiHory divifion, page 6i. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 511 

moft animals. Fifhes continue to grow for a great number 
of years. Some of them, accordingly, live during feveral 
centuries ; becaufe their bones and cartilages feldom acquire 
the denfity of thofe of other animals. It may, therefore, be 
confidered, as a general fact, that large animals live longer 
than fmaH ones, becaufe the former require more time to 
complete their growth. Thus the caufes of our diffolution 
are inevitable ; and it is equally impoffible to retard that 
fatal period, as to change the eftablifhed laws of Nature. 
When the cenftitution is found, life may, perhaps, by mode- 
rating the paffions, and by temperance, be prolonged for a 
few years. But the varieties of climate, and the modes of 
living, make no material differences with regard to the peri- 
od of our exiftence, which is nearly the fame in the Europe- 
an, the Negro, the Afiatic, the American, the civilized man 
and the favage, the rich and the poor, the citizen and the pea- 
fant. Neither does the difference of food, or of accommodation, 
make any change on the duration of life. Men who are fed 
on raw flefh or dried fifh, on fago or rice, on caffada or roots, 
live as long as thofe who ufe bread and prepared victuals. 
If luxury and intemperance be excepted, nothing can alter 
thofe laws of mechanifm which invariably determine the 
number of our years. Any little differences which may be 
remarked ift, the term of human life, feem to be chiefly ow- 
ing to the quality of the air. In general, there are more old 
men in high than in low countries. The mountains of Scot- 
land, of Wales, and of Switzerland, have furnifhed more 
examples of longevity than the plains of Holland, Flanders, 
Germany, or Poland. But if we take a furvey of mankind, 
whatever be the climate they inhabit, or their mode of living, 
there is fcarcely any difference in the duration of life. 
When men are not cut off by accidental difeafes, individuals 
may every where be found who live ninety or an hundred 
years. Our anceftors, with few exceptions, never exceeded 



513 THE PHILOSOPHY 

this period ;and, fince the days of David King of the Jews, it 
has undergone no variation. Befide accidental difeafes, which 
are more frequent, as well as more dangerous, in the latter 
periods of life, old men are fubjecled to natural infirmities 
{hat originate folely from a decay of the different parts of 
the body. The mufcles loie their tone, the head fh*kes, the 
hands tremble, the limbs totter, the fenfibility of the nerves 
is blunted, the cavities of the veflels contract, the fecretory 
organs are obftructed, the blood, the lymph, and the other 
fluids, extravafate, and produce all thofe fymptoms and dif- 
eafes which are commonly afcribed to a vitiation of the hu- 
mours. The natural decay of the folids, however, appears 
to be the original caufe of all thefe maladies. It is true, that 
a bad ftate of the fluids proceeds from a depravity in the or- 
ganization of the folids. But the effects refulting from a nox- 
ious change in the fluids produce the moft alarming fympr 
toms. "When the fluids flagnate, or if, by a relaxation of the 
veflels, an extravafation takes place, they foon corrupt, and 
corrode the weaker parts of the folids. Hence the caufes 
of diflblution gradually, but perpetually, multiply, our inter- 
nal enemies grow more and more powerful, and at laft put 
a period to our exiftence. 

"With regard to Quadrupeds, the caufes of their diflblution 
are precifely the fame with thofe which deftroy the human 
fpecies. The times of their growth bear, likewife, fome pro- 
portion to the duration of their lives. But, as we have alrea- 
dy given a table of the ages at which different quadrupeds are 
capable of multiplying their fpecies, and of the general dura- 
tion of their lives, to avoid unneceffary repetitions, we muft 
refer the reader to page 288 of this work. 

Some Birds afford inftances of great longevity. In this clafs 
of animals, the duration of life is by no means proportioned to 
the times of their growth. Moft of them acquire their futt 
dimenfions in a few months, and are capable of multiplying 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 513 

the fpecies the firft fpring or fummer after they are hatch- 
ed. In proportion to the fize of their bodies, birds are 
much more vivacious, and live longer than either men or 
quadrupeds. Swans have been faid to live three hundred 
years ; but, though mentioned by refpectable writers, the 
affertion is not fupported by any authentic evidence. Mr. 
Willoughby, in his Ornithology*, remarks, * We have been 
f allured by a friend of ours, a perfon of very good credit, 

* that his father kept a goofe known to be fourfcore years of 
' age, and as yet found and lufty, and like enough to have 

* lived many years longer, had he not been forced to kill het 
c for her mifchievoufnefs, worrying and destroying the young 

* gee(e and goflings.' In another part of this valuable work, 
Mr. Willoughby tells us, c that he has been afiured b? 
6 credible perfons, that a goofe will live a hundred years of 
6 moref .' 

In man and quadrupeds, the duration of life bears fome 
proportion to the times of their growth. But, in Birds, their 
growth, and their powers of reproduction, are more rapid, 
though they live proportionally longer. Seme fpecies of 
birds, as all the gallinaceous tribes, can make ufe of their 
limbs the moment they iflue from the fhell ; and, in a month 
or five weeks after, they can likewife employ their wings. 
A dung-hill cock has the capacity of engendering at the age 
of four months, but does not acquire his full growth in lefs 
than a year. The fmaller birds are perfect in four or five 
months. They grow more rapidly, and produce much foon. 
er than quadrupeds, and yet they live proportionally much 
longer. In man and quadrupeds, the duration of life is 
about fix or feven times more than that of their growth. 
According to this rule, a cock or a parrot, who arrive at their 
full growth and powers in one year, ftiould not live above 

* Page 14. 
f Ornithology, page 23$. 



514* THE PHILOSOPHY 

fix or feven. But Nature knows none of our rules. She 
accommodates her conduct, not to our fhallow, and often 
prefumptuous conclufions, but to the prefervation of fpecies, 
and to the fupport and general balance of the great fyftem of 
animated beings. Ravens, though capable of providing for 
themfelves in lefs than a year, fometimes have their lives 
protracted more than a century. The Count de Buffon in- 
forms us, that, in feveral places of France, ravens have been 
known to arrive at this extraordinary age, and that, at all 
times, and in all countries, they have been efteemed birds of 
great longevity*. 

4 Eagles/ fays Mr. Pennant, < are remarkable for their 

< longevity, and for their power of fuftaining a long abfti- 
« nence from food. A golden eagle, which has now been 
c nine years in the poffeffion of Owen Holland, Efq. of Con- 

* way, lived thirty-two years with the gentleman who made 

* him a prefent of it ; but what its age was when the latter 
c received it from Ireland is unknown. The fame bird alfo 

* furnifhes a p:oof of the truth of the other remark, having 
' once, through the neglect of fervants, endured hunger for 
' twenty -one days, without any fuftenance whatfoeverf.* 
The pelican that was kept at Mechlin in Brabant during the 
reign of the Emperor Maximilian, was believed to be eighty 
years of age. ' What is reported of the age of eagles and 

< ravens,' fays Mr. Willoughby, ( although it exceeds all be- 

* lief, yet doth it evince thatthofe birds are very long-lived^/ 
Pigeons have been known to live from twenty to twenty- 
two years. Even the fmaller birds live very long in propor- 
tion to the time of their growth and the fize of their bodies. 
Linnets, gold-finches, &c. often live in cages fifteen, twenty, 
and even twenty-three years. 

* Hift- Nat, des Cifeaux, torn. 3. page 31. 
f Britifh Zoology, vol, 1. 8vo. edit, page 123. 
I Ornithology, page J4. 



OP NATURAL HISTORY. 515 

FiJheSy vvhofe bones are more cartilaginous than thofe of 
men and quadrupeds, are long of acquiring their utmoft 
growth, and many of them live to great ages. Gefner gives 
an inftance of a carp in Germany which he knew to be one 
hundred years old*. BufFon informs us, that, in the Count 
Maurepa's ponds, he had feen carps of one hundred and fifty 
years of age, and that the fact was attefted in the moft fatis- 
faclory manner. He even mentions one which he fuppofed 
to be two hundred years oldf. Two methods have been de- 
vifed for afcertaining the age of fifties, namely, by the cir- 
cles of the fcales, and by a tranfverfe feclionof the back-bone. 
When a fcde of a flfh is examined by the micro fcope, it is 
found to confift of a number of circles within one another, 
refembling, in fome meafure, thofe rings that appear on the 
tranfverfe fe&ions of trees, by which their ages are computed. 
In the fame manner, the ages of fifties may be afcertained 
by the number of circles on their fcales, reckoning for each 
ring one year of the animal's exiftence. The ages of Buffon's 
carps were chiefly determined by the circles on their fcales. 
The age of fifties that want fcales, as the fkate and ray-kind, 
may be pretty exactly known by feparating the joints of the 
back-bone, and obferving minutely the number of rings 
which the furface exhibits. Both of thefe methods may be 
liable to deception j but they are the only natural ones which 
have hitherto been difcovered. The longevity of fifties has 
been afcribed to feveral caufes. The element in which they 
live is more uniform, and lefs fubject to accidental changes 
than the air of our atmofphere. Their bones, which are 
more of a cartilaginous nature than thofe of land animals, 
admit of indefinite extenfion 5 of courfe, their bodies, inftead 
of fufFering the rigidity of age at an early period, which is 
the natural caufe of death, continue to grow much longer 
than thofe of moft land-animals. 

Gefner de Pifc. page 313. 
f Epoquea de la Nature, page 18 J. 



#16 THP PHILOSOPHY 



As to the age of Reptiles, probably from the uninterefting 
nature of the animals, we have very little information. But 
two letters of J. Arfcott, Efq. ; of Tehott in Devonftiire, 
concerning the longevity of a toad, deferve fome notice. 
Thefe letters were addreffed to Dr. Milles, Dean of Exeter, 
and by him communicated to Mr. Pennant in the year 1768 : 
*It would give me the greateft pleafure/ fays Mr. Arfcott, c to 
« be able to inform you of any particulars worthy Mr. Pen- 

< nant's notice, concerning the toad who lived fo many years 

* with us, and was fo great a favourite. It had frequented 
« fome fteps before the hall-door fome years before my ac- 
« quaintance commenced with it, and had been admired by 

< my father for its fize, (which was of the largeft I ever met 

* with), who conftantly paid it a vifit every evening. I knew 

* it myfelf above thirty years, and, by conftantly feeding it, 

< brought it to be fo tame, that it always came to the candle, 

* and looked up, as if expecting to be taken up and brought 
1 upon the table, whore I always fed it with infects of all 
« forts. You may imagine that a toad, generally detefted, 

* (although one of the mod inoffenfive of all animals), fo 
c much taken notice of and befriended, excited the curioflty 

* of all comers to the houfe, who all delired to fee it fed j fo 
« that even ladies fo far conquered the horrdrs inftilled into 

* them by nurfes, as to defire to fee it*/ In the fecond letter, 
Mr. Arfcott remarks, « I cannot fay how long my father had 

* been acquainted with the toad before I knew it ; but, when 

* I was flrft acquainted with it, he ufed to mention it as the 

* old toad I have known fo many years ; I can anfwer for 

* thirty-fix yearsf / { In refpect to its end, had it not been 
c for a tame raven, I make no doubt but it would have been 
« now living, who one day, feeing it at the mouth of its hole, 
s pulled it but, and, though I refcued it, pulled out one eye, 

* Pennant's Brltifh Zoology, yoI. 3, page 323. 
f Ibid, page 3:46. 



bF NATURAL HrSTORY. 517 

* and hurt it fo, that, notwithftanding its living a twelve- 

* month, it never enjoyed itfelf, and had a difficulty in tak- 
' ing its food, miffing the mark for want of its eye. Before 
! that accident it had all the appearance of perfect health*. 

Moft Infects, efpecially after their larl transformation, are 
fhort-lived. But the fpecies are continually fupported by 
their wonderful fecundity. Thofe animals whofe parts re- 
quire a long time of hardening and expanding are endowed 
with a proportional degree of longevity. Infects grow, and 
their bodies harden, more quickly than thofe of larger ani- 
mals. Many of them complete their growth in a few weeks, 
and even in a few days. The duration of their exiftence is 
accordingly limited to very fhort periods. Some fpecies of 
flies lie in a torpid ftate during the winter, and revive when 
the heat of fpring or fummer returns. The ephemeron flies, 
of which there are feveral kinds, feldom live above one day, 
or one hour, after their transformation. But, to continue 
the fpecies, Nature has taken care that myriads of males and 
females fhould be transformed nearly at the fame inftant. 
Were it otherwife, the males and females could "have no op- 
portunity of meeting, and the fpecies would foon be extin- 
guilhed. Other kinds are transformed more irregularly, and 
live feveral days. Here the wifdom of Nature is confpicuous : 
She prolongs the exiftence of thefe animals for no other 
purpofe but to allow the individuals of both fexes to meet 
and multiply the fpecies. Bees, and flies of all kinds, after 
lying long in water, and having every appearance of death, 
revive by the application of a gentle heat, or by covering 
their bodies with alhes, chalk or fand, which abforb the fu- 
perfluous moifture from their pores. Reaumur made many 
experiments upon the revivifcence of drowned bees. He 
found, that, after being immerfed in water for nine hours, 
fome of them returned to life ; but he acknowledges that 

* Pennant's BrkLh Zoology, vol. 3. page 33 a. 

R r r 



M THE PHILOSOPHY 

many of them, in the fourth part of this time, were actually* 
dead, and that neither heat, nor the application of abforbent 
powders, could reftore them to life. Analogical reafoning 
is often deceitful, but it frequently leads to ufeful truths. 
As flies of all kinds, after immerfion in water, and exhibit- 
ing every mark of actual death, can be reftored to life by 
covering their bodies with any abforbent fubftance, without 
the afliftance of a heat fuperior to that of the common at- 
mofphere, might not the ordinary methods employed for 
the recovery of drowned perfons be aflifted by the applica- 
tion of warm afhes or chalk ? The ftructure of a fly and 
that of a man, it is allowed, are very different. But, in def- 
perate cafes, when every other method fails, no fact fhould 
be overlooked, and no analogy defpifed. 

Plants differ as much in the periods of their exiftence as 
animals. Many plants perifh yearly ; others are biennial, 
triennial, &c. But the longevity and magnitude of particular 
trees are prodigious. We are informed by Mr. Evelyn, 
that, in the bodies of fome Englifh oaks, when cut tranfverfe- 
ly, three, and even four, hundred rings of wood have been 
diftinguifhed. A ring of wood is added annually to the 
trunks of trees ; and, by counting the rings, the age of any 
tree may be pretty exactly afcertained*. With regard to 
the magnitude of oaks, fome of them are huge malTes. Dr. 
Hunter, in his Notes upon Eve^ln's Sylva, remarks, that 
none ' of the oaks mentioned by Mr. Evelyn bear any pro- 
« portion to one now growing at Cowthorpe, near Wether - 
« by, upon an eftate belonging to the Right Hon. Lady 
c Stourton. The dimenfions are almoft incredible. With- 
< in three feet of the furface, it meafures fixteen yards, and, 
« clofe by the ground, twenty-fix yards. Its height, in its 
* prefent and ruinous ftate, (1776,) is about eighty-five feet, 
and its princip!c limb extends fixteen yards from tire bofe, 
* See Evelyn's Sylva, page 505. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. Stf 

* When compared to this, all other trees are but children of 
'oftheforeft*.' 

From the facts which have been enumerated, it appears, 
that all animals, as well as vegetables, have ftated periods of 
exiftence, and that their dhTolution is uniformly" accomplish- 
ed by a gradual hardening and deficcation-of their conftituent 
parts. No art, no medicine, can retard the operations of 
Nature. It is, therefore, the wifdom and the duty of every 
human being to fail down the irrefiftible current of Nature 
with all poffible tranquility and refignation. Life, whether 
ihort or long, whether fortunate or unfortunate, when the 
fatal period arrives, is of little confequence to the individual. 
Society, knowledge, virtue, and benevolence, are our only 
rational enjoyments, and ought to be cultivated with dili- 
gence. 

With regard to animals in general, the actual duration 
of their lives is very different. But the comparative fhort- 
nefs or length of life, in particular animals, probably de- 
pends on the quicknefs or flownefs of the ideas which pafs 
in their minds, or of the impreffions made upon their fenfes. 
A rapid fucceffion of ideas or impreffions makes time feem 
proportionally long. There is likewife a connection between 
the quicknefs and flownefs of ideas, and the circulation of 
the blood. A man whofe pulfe is flow and fluggifh, is ge- 
nerally dull and phlegmatic. Raife this fame man's pulfe 
with wine, or any other exhilirating ftimulus, and you im- 
mediately quicken his fenfations, as well as the train of his 
ideas. In all young animals, the circulation of the blood is 
much more rapid than after they have acquired their full 
growth. Young animals, accordingly, are frolickfome, 
vivacious, and happy. But, when their growth is completed, 
the motion of blood is flower, and their manners, of courfe, 
are more fedate, gloomy, and penfive. Another circuit 

* Ibid. page. 500. 



520 THE PHILOSOPHY 

ftance merits attention. The circulation of the blood is 
flower or quicker in proportion to the magnitude of animals* 
In large animals, fuch as man and quadrupeds, the blood 
moves flowly, and the fucceflion of their ideas is proportion- 
ally flow. In the more minute kinds, as mice, fmall birds, 
fquirrels, &c. the circulation is fo rapid that the pulfes of 
their arteries cannot be counted. Now, animals of this de- 
fcription aftonifh us with the quicknefs of their movements, 
the vivacity of their manners, and the extreme chearfulnefs 
of their difpofitions. 

Reaumur, Condillac, and many other philofophers, confid- 
er duration as a relative idea, depending on a train of con- 
fcious perception and fentiment. It is certain that the na- 
tural meafure of time depends folely on the fucceflion of our 
ideas. Were it poflible for the mind to be totally occupied 
with a fingle idea for a day, a week, or a month, thefe por- 
tions of time would appear to be nothing more than fo many 
inftants. Hence a philofopher often lives as long in one day, 
as a clown or a favage does in a week or a month fpent in 
mental inactivity and want of thought. 

This fubject fhall be concluded with a fingle remark : If 
it be true, and we are certain that it is fo in part, that ani- 
mals of every fpecies, whatever be the real duration of their 
lives, from a flow or rapid fucceflion of ideas, and perhaps 
from the comparative intenfity of their enjoyments, live 
equally long, and enjoy an equal portion of individual happi- 
nefs, it opens a wonderful view of the great benevolence of 
Nature. To ftore every portion of this globe with animal 
life, fhe has amply peopled the earth, the air, and the waters. 
The multifarious inhabitants of thefe elements, as to the 
actual duration of their lives, are extremely diverfified. But, 
by variation of forms, of magnitude, of rapidity of ideas, of 
intenfity of pleafures, and, perhaps, of many other circum- 
ftances, fhe has conferred upon the whole nearly an ecuial 
portion of happinefs, 



OF NATURAL HISTORY, $%\ 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Of the ProgreJJtve Scale or Chain of Beings in the Univerfe. 

X O men of obfervation and reflexion, it is ap* 
parent, that all the beings on this earth, whether animals or 
vegetables, have a mutual connection and a mutual depen- 
dence on each other. There is a graduated fcale or chain of 
existence, not a link of which, however feemingly infignifi- 
cant, could be broken without affecting the whole. Super- 
ficial men, or, which is the fame thing, men who avoid the 
trouble of ferious thinking, wonder at the defign of produc- 
ing certain infects and reptiles. But they do not confider 
that the annihilation of any one of thefe fpecies, though 
fome of them are inconvenient, and even noxious to man, 
would make a blank in Nature, and prove deftrudtive to 
other fpecies who feed upon them. Thefe, in their turn, 
would be the caufe of deftroying other fpecies, and the fy£- 
tern of devaftation would gradually proceed, till man himfelf 
would be extirpated, and leave this earth destitute of ail ani- 
mation. 

In the chain of animals, man is un que ft ion ably the chief 
or capital link, and from him all the other links defcend by 
almoft imperceptible gradations. As a highly rational ani-r 
mal, improved with fcience and arts, he is, in fome meaiure, 
related to beings of a fuperior order, wherever they exift. 
By contemplating the works of Nature, he even rifes to 
fome faint ideas of her great Author. Why, it has been 
aiked, are not men endowed with the capacity and powers 
of angels ? beings of whom we have not even a conception. 
With the fame propriety, it may be aiked, why have not 
beafts the mental powers of men ? Queftions of this kind 



$22 THE PHILOSOPHY 

^re the refults of ignorance, which is always petulant and 
prefumptuous. Every creature is perfect, according to its 
deftination. Raife or deprefs any order of beings, the 
whole fyftem, of courfe, will be deranged, and a new world 
would be neceifary to contain and fupport them. Particular 
orders of beings fhould not be confidered feparately, but by 
the rank they hold in the general fyftem. From man to 
the minuteft animalcule which can be difcovered by the mi- 
crofcope, the chafm feems to be infinite : But that chafm is 
actually filled up with fentient beings, of which the lines of 
difcrimination are almoft imperceptible. All of them pofTefs 
degrees of perfection or of excellence proportioned to their 
ftation in the univerfe. Even among mankind, which is a 
particular fpecies, the fcale of intellect is very extenfive. 
What a difference between an enlightened philofopher and 
a brutal Hottentot ? Still, however, Nature obferves, for 
the wifeft purpofes, her uniform plan of graduation. In the 
human fpecies, the degrees of intelligence are extremely va- 
ried. Were all men philofophers, the bufinefs of life could 
not be executed, and neither fociety, nor even the fpecies, 
eould long exift. Induftry, various degrees of knowledge, 
different difpofitions, and different talents, are great bonds 
pf fociety. The Gentoos, from certain political and religi- 
ous inflitutions, have formed their people into different carts 
or ranks, out of which their pofterity can never emerge. 
To us, fuch inflitutions appear to be tyrannical, and reftraints 
on the natural liberty of man. In fome refpects they are fo : 
But they feem to have been originally refults of wifdom and 
obfervation ; for, independently of all political inftitutions, 
Nature herfelf has formed the human fpecies into cafts or 
ranks. To fome (he gives fuperior genius and mental abili- 
ties •, and, even of thefe, the views, the purfuits, and the 
taftes, are mod wonderfully diverfified. 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 525 

In the talents and qualities of quadrupeds of the fame fpe- 
cies, there are often remarkable differences. Thefe differ- 
ences are confpicuous in the various races of horfes, dogs, &c< 
Even among the fame races, fome are bold, fprightly, and 
fagacious. Others are comparatively timid, phlegmatic, 
and dull. 

Our knowledge of the chain of intellectual and corporeal 
beings is very imperfect ; but what we do know gives us ex- 
alted ideas of that variety and progreflion which reign in the 
umverfe. A thick cloud prevents us from recognifing the 
moft beautiful and magnificent parts of this immenfe chain 
of being. We (hall endeavour, however, to point out a few 
of the more obvious links of that chain, which falls under 
our own limited obfervation. 

Man, even by his external qualities, {lands at the head of 
this world. His relations are more extenfive, and his form 
more advantageous, than thofe of any other animal. His in- 
tellectual powers, when improved by fociety and fcience, 
raife him fo high, that, if no degrees of excellence exifted 
among his own fpecies, he would leave a great void in the 
chain of being. Were we to confider the characters, the 
manners, and the genius of different nations, of different 
provinces and towns, and even of the members of the fame 
family, we mould imagine that the fpecies of men were as 
various as the number of individuals. How many gradations- 
may be traced between a ftupid Huron, or a Hottentot, and 
a profound philofopher ? Here the diftance is immenfe ; 
but Nature has occupied the whole by almoft infinite fhades 
of difcrimination. 

In defcending the fcale of animation, the next ftep, it is 
humiliating to remark, is very fhort. Man, in his lowefr, 
condition, is evidently linked, both in the form of his body 
and the capacity of his mind, to the large and fmall orang- 
outangs. Thefe again, by another flight gradation, are con- 



524 The philosophy 

nected to the apes, who, like the former, have no tails. It 
is wonderful that Linnaeus, and many other naturalifts, 
fhould have overlooked this gradation in the fcale of ani- 
mals, and maintained, that the ifland of Nicobar, and fome 
other parts of the Eaft Indies, were inhabited by tailed men. 
Before thofe animals whofe external figure has the greateft 
refemblance to that of man, are ornamented, or rather de- 
formed, with tails, there are feveral fhades of difcrimination. 
The larger and fmaller orang-outangs, which are real brutes, 
have no tails. Neither are the numerous tribes of apes fur* 
nifhed with this appendage. But the believers in tailed men 
gravely tell us, that there is nothing furprifing in this pheno- 
menon, becaufc a tail is only a prolongation of the os ccccygis, 
which is the termination of the back-bone. They confider 
not, however, that, inftead of accounting for the exiftence 
of tailed men, they do nothing more than fubftitute a learn- 
ed circumlocution for the fimple word tail. It is here wor- 
thy of remark, that a philofopher, who has paid little atten- 
tion to natural hiitory, is perpetually liable to be deceived ; 
and that a naturalift, I mean a nomenclator, without philo- 
fophy, though he may be ufeful by mechanically marking 
diftinclions, is incapable of enriching our minds with gener- 
al ideas. A proper mixture of the two is beft calculated to 
produce a real philofopher. From the orang-outangs and 
apes to the baboons, the interval is hardly perceptible. The 
true apes have no tails, and thofe of the baboons are very 
fhort. The monkeys, who form the next link, have long 
tails, and terminate this partial chain of imitative animals, 
which have fuch a deteftable refemblance to the human 
frame and manners. 

When examining the characters by which beings are dif- 
tinguifhable from each other, we perceive that fome of them 
are more general, and include a greater variety than others. 
From this circumftance all our diftributions into clafles, or- 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 525 

ders, genera, and fpecies, are derived. Between two clafTes, 
or two genera, however, Nature always exhibits intermediate 
productions fo clofely allied, that it is extremely difficult to 
afcertain to which of them they belong. The polypus, which 
multipties by fhoots, or by fections, from its body, connects 
the animal to the vegetable kingdom. Thofe worms which 
lodge in tubes compofed of fand, feem to link the infects to 
the fhell and cruftaceous animals. Shell-animals and crufta- x 
ceous infects make alfo a near approach to each other. Both 
of them have their mufcles and inftruments of motion attach- 
ed to external inftead of internal bones. From reptiles, the 
degrees of perfection in animal life and powers move forward 
in a gradual but perceptible manner. The number of their 
organs of fenfe, and the general conformation of their bo- 
dies, begin to have a greater analogy to the ftructure of 
thofe animals which we are accuflomed to confider as belong- 
ing to the more perfect kinds. The fnake, by its form, its 
movements, and its mode of living, is evidently connected 
with the eel and the water-ferpent. Like reptiles, mod fifti- 
es are covered with fcales, the colours and variety of which 
often enable us to diftinguifh one fpecies from another. The 
forms of fifhes are exceedingly various. Some are long and 
{lender *, others are broad and contracted. Some fifhes are 
flat, others cylindrical, triangular, fquare, circular, &c. The 
fins of fifhes, from the medium in which they live, are anal- 
ogous to the wings of birds. Like thofe of reptiles, the 
heads of fifhes are immediately connected to their bodies, 
without the intervention of necks. The flying fifhes, whofe 
fins refemble the wings of bats, form one link which unites 
the fifhes to the feathered tribes. Aquatic birds fucceed, by 
a gentle gradation, the flying fifhes. 

In tracing the gradations from fifhes to quadrupeds, the 
tranfition is almoft imperceptible. The fea-lion, the morfe, 

all the cetaceous tribes, the crocodile, the turtle, the feals, 

S s f 



526 THE PHILOSOPHT 

have fuch a refemblance, both in their external and internal 
ftructure, to terreftrial quadrupeds, that fome naturalifts, in 
their methodical diftributions, have ranked them under the 
fame clafs of animals. The bats and the flying fquirrels, who 
traverfe the air by means of membranous inftead of feather- 
ed wings, evidently connect quadrupeds with birds. The 
oftrich, the caflbwary, and the dodo, who rather run than 
fly, form another link between the quadruped and the bird. 

All the fubftanees we recognife on this earth may be di- 
vided into organifed and animated, organifed and inanimat- 
ed, and unorganifed, or brute matter. The whole of thefe 
pofTefs degrees of perfection, of excellence, or of relative 
utility, proportioned to their ftations or ranks in the univerfe. 
Change thefe ftations or ranks, and another world would be 
neceflary to contain and fupport them. Beings muft not be 
contemplated individually, but by their rank, and the rela- 
tions they have to the conftituent parts of the general fyftem 
of Nature. Certain refults of their natures we confider as 
evils. Deftroy thefe evils, and you annihilate the beings 
who complain of them. The reciprocal action of the folids 
and fluids conftitutes life, and the continuation of this action 
is the natural caufe of death. Immortality on this earth, 
therefore, prefuppofes another fyftem j for our planet has 
no relation to immortal beings. Every animal, and every 
plant, rifes, by gentle gradations, from an embryo, or gela- 
tinous ftate, to a certain degree of perfection exactly propor- 
tioned to their feveral orders. An afTemblage of all the 
orders of relative perfection conftitutes the abfolute perfec- 
tion of the whole. All the planets of this fyftem gravitate 
toward the fun and toward each other. Our fyftem gravi- 
tates towards other fyftems, and they to ours. Thus the 
whole univerfe is linked together by a gradual and aim oft 
imperceptible chain ofexiftences both animated and inani- 
mated. Were there no other argument in favour of the 



OF NATURAL HISTORY. 527 

UNITY of DEITY, this uniformity of defign, this graduated 
concatenation of beings, which appears not only from this 
chapter, but from many other parts of the book, feems to be 
perfectly irrefragable. 

In contemplating Man, as at the head of thofe animals 
with which we are acquainted, a thought occurred, that no 
fentient being, whofe mental powers were greatly fuperior, 
could poffibly live and be happy in this world. If fuch a 
being really exifted, his mifery would be extreme. With 
fenfes more delicate and refined ; with perceptions more 
acute and penetrating ; with a tafte fo exquifite that the ob- 
jects around him could by no means gratify it 5 obliged to 
feed upon nourifhment too grofs for his frame j he muft be 
born only to be miferable, and the continuation of his exift- 
ence would be utterly impoffible. Even in our prefent con- 
dition, the famenefs and infipidity of objects and purfuits, the 
futility of pleafure, and the infinite fources of excruciating 
pain, are fupported with great difficulty by cultivated and re- 
lined minds. Increafe our fenfibilities, continue the fame 
objects and fituation, and no man could bear to live. Let 
man, therefore, be contented. His ftation in the univerfal 
fcale of Nature is fixed by Wifdom. Let him contem- 
plate and admire the works of his Creator ; let him fill up 
his rank with dignity, and confider every partial evil as a 
caufe or an effect of general good, This is the whole du- 
ty of man. 




INDEX. 



A. 

Actinia. See fea-nettle. 

Air, neceffary to the exiftence of all animals and vegeta- 
bles, 112. Air-cells in birds defcribed, 119. Temporary 
inftruments fometimes provided for its admiffion into ani- 
mal bodies, 130. Some animals can live long without it 
135, 136. Air is always impregnated with odorous parti- 
cles, 171. The medium of founds, 175. 

Amphibious animals. See animals. Sketch of their ftruc-? 
ture and difpofitions, 75. The foramen ovale of their 
hearts continue open during life, 76. 

Analogy. See animals and plants. Analogy between birds 
and fifties, 126. Sexes of plants founded on falfe analo- 
gies, 252. See fexes. 

Animal heat. An attempt to account for it, 113. 

Animacules. Thofe obtained by infuftons multiply by con- 
tinued divifions and fubdivifions, 42. 

Animals. Difficulty of diftinguifhing them from plants, 14, 
See plants. All of them endowed with fenfation, 20. A 
Iketch of their flruclure and organs, 23. Analogies be- 
tween animals and plants, originating from their ftruclure 
and organs, ibid. From their growth and nourifhment, 32, 
39. The food of animals compared with that of plants, 36. 
Analogies from their dhTemination and decay, 40, &c. 
Some animals neither viviparous nor oviparous, 41. Some 
are both, ibid ; and fome multiply without impregna- 
tion, 44. Analogies between the eggs of animals and 
the feeds of plants, 46. Moft animals have their feafons, 
48, 288. All animals fubject to difeafes and death, 51. 
Of the organs and general ftruc"fcire of animals, 54. Struc- 
ture of man, ibid. Of the bones, ibid. Of the mufcular 
parts, 56. Of the lungs, ibid. Of the ftomach and in- 
ftruments of digeftion, 57. Of the organs of generation, 
59. Of the brain and nerves, 61. Of the ftruclure of 
quadrupeds, 63. The general ftruclure of quadrupeds has 



530 INDEX. 

a great refemblance to that of man, 63. Peculiarities in 
the Structure of carnivorous animals, 66 ; and of the her- 
bivorous tribes, 67. Sketch of the Structure and difpo- 
litions of amphibious animals 75. Sketch of the ftruc- 
ture of birds, 80. Of the ftru&ure of flfhes, 87. The 
comparative Strength of animals depends not on Structure 
alone, 111. Of their refpiration, 112. Moft animals ca- 
pable of exprefling their wants and defires, 118. Of their 
motions, 140, &c. The notion that animals are machines 
abfurd, 165. Of the infancy of animals, 202. Their 
general diffufion over the globe owing partly to the diver- 
sity of their appetites for food, 225. Of the fexes 
of animals, 242. Of the puberty of animals, 269. All 
animals undergo changes at the age of puberty, 272. 
Their attachment to their young, 278. This attachment 
ceafes, in fome animals, as foon as the young can provide 
for themfelves, 282. Many of them marry or pair, ibid. 
Advantages derived from the variety of feafons obferved 
by different animals, 285. Table of their relative fecundi- 
ty, 288. Of their transformations, 291. All animals un- 
dergo changes, ibid. Cruftaceous tribes annually caft their 
{hells, 294. Of the habitations of animals, 315. Opera- 
tions of animals referred by fome authors to mechanical 
impulfes, 340. Of their hostilities, 378. Man the moft 
univerfal deftroyer of animal life, 380. Some animals de- 
vour their own fpecies, 388. Advantages derived from 
animals preying upon one another, 393. Profufion of an- 
imal life feems to be a general intention of Nature, 396. 
There is a wonderful balance in the fyftern of animal de- 
struction and multiplication, 397. Restraints againft nox- 
ious inundations of particular fpecies, ibid. Animals not 
deftined for individual exiftence alone, 401. Of the arti- 
fices of animals, 403. Of the fociety of animals, 418. Of 
gregarious animals who carry on no common operations, 
436. Different fpecies affbciate, 437. Of their docility, 
439. Animals of the ox kind dull and phlegmatic, 460. 
Much influenced by climate and domeftication, 463, &c. 
Of the characters of animals, 469. Of their principal of 
imitation, 472. Of the migration of animals, 476. Of 
their longevity, 506, &c. Thofe which grow quickly foon 
perifh, 510. All animals perfect according to their des- 
tination, 522, 



INDEX. 531 

Ants. Their ftru&ure and manners, 104. Wood-ants, their 
furprifing operations and manners. See termites. Their 
fociety, 434. 

Aphis, See puceron. 

Apterous infects defcribed, 106. 

Arabians coniider the camel as a gift fent from heaven, 74. 
Performs journies of fifty leagues in one day, 74. 

Aranea. See fpiders. 

Arteries. The probable inftruments of nutrition and growth, 
120. 

Artifices. General fources of the artifices of animals, 403* 
Artifices of cattle, horfes, and monkeys, 404. Of the 
flag, ibid. Of the fallow-deer, 405. Of the roebuck, 
406. Of the hare, 407. Of the fox, 408. Of the glut- 
ton, 411. Of the Kamtfchatka rats, ibid. Of birds, 412. 
Of fifties, 414. Of infe&s, 415. 

Afbeftos. Its ftructure makes no approach toward organiza- 
tion, 24. 

Aureliae, See chryfalids. 

£ 

Beavers. Account of their manners and architecture, 317. 
Live peaceably in Society with each other, 321. Lay up 
provifions for winter, 322. 

Bees. The general ftructure of the honey-bee, 104. The 
mafon-bee fometimes moves in a retrograde direction, 151. 
Some of their inftintts enumerated, 155. "Wood-piercing 
bee makes a neft in old timber, 156. When pinched 
for room, they augment the depth of their cells, 159. 
Neft of the mafon-bee, 331. Ichneumon flies deftruclive' 
to bees, 333. Operations of wood-piercing bees, 334. 
Of other folitary bees, 338. Operations and oeconomy of 
the honey-bee, 340. The figure and mode of making 
their cells, 341. Their cells are deftined to anfwer dif- 
ferent purpofes, 343. Their divifion of labour, ibid. Their 
wax a refult of a digeftive procefs, ibid. Eat the farina 
of flowers, ibid. Require a warm habitation, 346. Mend 
their hives with propolis, 347. Amafs great quantities of 
honey, 347. Occafionally feed one another, 347. Eggs 
of the female impregnated by the males after they are de- 
pofited in the cells, 349. Can transform a common fub- 
ject into a queen or female, 352. May be multiplied 
without end, 352. The neuters mafTacre the males, 39 L 



532 INDEX*. 

Have frequent combats, 392. Their fociety of a monar- 
chical nature, 425. The Count de Buffon's mechanical 
theory of the operations of bees examined, 427, &c. 

Beetle tribe of infects. An account of their form and man- 
ners, 99. Many of them, when terrified, fimulate death, 
158. Remarkable differences between fome of the males 
and females, 245. 

Beings fhould not be contemplated individually, but by their 
rank, 526. None fuperior to man could exift in this world, 
527. 

Birds. Sketch of their ftructure, 80. Their form adapt- 
ed to their mode of living, 81. Of granivorous birds, 
82. Analogy between them and herbivorous quadru- 
peds, 84. Of carnivorous birds, 84, 386. Birds refpire 
by almoft every part of their bodies, and even by the 
bones, 119. One ufe of this ftructure, 122. Analogy 
between birds and fifhes, 125. When not reftrained, 
uniformly build nefts in the fame form, and of the fame 
materials, 157. The great comminuting force of fome 
of their ftomachs, 231. "Whether the fmall (tones they 
fwallow affift the digeftion of their food, 233. Among 
birds of prey, the females are larger, ftronger, and more 
beautiful, than the males, 247. The reverie takes place 
among the gallinaceous tribes, 247. Many of them pair, 
282, 283. Changes they undergo after being hatched, 
295. Of their nidification, 324, 325. Of their artifices, 
412. Some of them may be taught articulation, 462. Of 
their migration, 476, &c. Of their longevity, 512. 

feifons. See oxen. 

Bletta. See Cockroach, 100. 

Blood. Its circulation connected with refpiration, 117, 
Showers of it accounted for, 308. 

Bones. Birds breathe through them, 121. 

Brackeleys, a fpecies of the ox, which are taught by the Afri- 
cans to perform wonderful actions, 460, &c. 

Brain. See nerves. 

Brain. A fhort defcription of it, 61. The fource of all fen- 
fation and motion, 140. Suppofed to fecrete and diftri- 
bute the nutritious matter of food, 217. 

Breathing. See refpiration. 

Brutes. See animals. 

Bug. Some account of it, 100. 



INDEX. 533 

•Butterflies. Defcription of them, 101. Gave rife to the notion 
of fhowers of blood, 307. Void drops of blood, 308. 

C 

Cabins. See beavers. 

Camel and dromedary, befide four ftomachs, have a refer - 
voir for holding water, 73. Their manners and difpofi- 
tions, 74. 

Camel-cricket. Regarded as a facred animal, 100. 

Carnivorous animals. See animals. Their ftructure adapt- 
ed to their difpofltions, 66. Are not fo apt to devour wo- 
men as men, 244. Man the moft rapacious of all animals, 
380. Of carnivorous quadrupeds, 382. Of carnivorous 
birds, 386. Of carnivorous infects, 387. Advantages 
derived from animals preying upon one another, 394. 
Carnivorous animals are the barriers againft noxious inun- 
dations of other kinds, 397. 

Caterpillars. See infects. Their mode of refpiring, 132. 
Are of no fex, 248. When they arrive at the age of pu- 
berty, 270. Of their transformations, 295. Caft their 
ikins, 295, 303. Their different modes of retiring pre- 
vious to their transformation. A defcription of them, 294. 
The circulation of their blood changes its direction, 298. 
Their different modes of behaving when about to trans- 
form, 303. Spinning of the filk-worm, defcribed, 303. 
The flies exift in the bodies of the caterpillars, 305. Some 
of them devour their own fpecies, 386. Have number- 
lefs enemies, 388. Without a profuiion of them fmall 
birds could not be fupported, 399. Common kind afTo- 
ciate, 429. Some of them are republicans, 432. 

Caufe. We muft at laft have recourfe to a final caufe, 339. 

Cells. See bees, and wafps. Air-cells in birds defcribed, 121. 

Chain. Of the progreflive chain of beings, 521. 

Changes of form. See transformations. 

Characters of animals, 467. How they may be modified, ibid. 
Individual characters often ftrbngly marked, 468. 

Chermes. The female of this infect depofits her eggs in the 
leaves of trees, and produce thofe protuberances called 
galls, 101. 

Children. See infants. The gradual progrefs of their in- 
ftincts, 439. 

Chryfalids. A defcription of them, 297. 

T t t 



534 INDEX* 

Cimex. See bug. 

Cinyps. A fly whofe eggs produce galls in the oak, 105. 

Cleanlinefs. Its importance to health, 138. 

Cock. The game cock a moft intrepid animal, 247. 

Cockroach. Some account of it, 100. 

Colours. The origin of the primary ones, 187. A mixture 
of them produces whitenefs, ibid. Colour no fpecific cha- 
racter of plants, 261, 262. Colours of animals greatly va- 
riegated by domeftication, 4-66. 

Coleopterous infects defcribed, 98. 

Combs. See bees and wafps. 

Crabs. An account of the migration of land crabs, 502. 

Crows. Experiments on their digeftive powers, 235, 236, 
237. Endeavour to break grain before they fwallow it, 
236. 

Cruftaceous fifties caft their (hells annually, 294. 

Cuckoo makes no neft, and neither hatches nor feeds hec 
young, 327. 

Culex. See gnat. 

Cuttle-fifh. Its ftructure and manners, 109. 

D 

Death. All animals and vegetables fubjecl: to dhTolution, 51, 
292. Life cannot be fupported without the intervention 
of death, 394. There is a wonderful balance in the fyf- 
tem of animal deftruction and multiplication, 397. The 
general caufes of death, 507. 

Deer. Their artifices in efcaping the dogs, 404. 

Deity neceffarily one, 527. 

Digeftion. The organs of digeftion defcribed, 57, 58. The 
mechanical and chemical theories of it, 230. Victuals 
diftblved by the gaftric juice, 231. Whether the fmall 
ftones fwallowed by birds affift their digeftion, 233. Great- 
ly afhfted by chewing, or by comminution, 236. Dr. Ste- 
vens's experiments upon digeftion in man and other ani- 
mals, 237. After death, the ftomach is dhTolved by its 
own gaftric juice, 240. Bees wax a refult of digeftion, 344. 

Dipterous infects defcribed, 105. 

Docility of animals, 439, &c. 

Dog. His fenfe of fmelling extremely acute, 1 72. Wild 
dogs hunt in -packs, 437. Next to the elephant, the dog 
is the moft docile animal, 454. Accommodates his beha- 



INDEX. 535 

viour to the manners of thofe who command him, 4:55. 
Great differences in their natural difpofltions, ibid. Con- 
duct blind'perfons with great fagacity, 456. An extraor- 
dinary inftance of their intelligence, 457. The influence 
of climate upon them, 465. Fattened in China for the ta- 
ble, 474. 

Domeftication. Its effects on different animals, 463. 

Dragon-fly. See libella. 

Dromedary. See camel, 

E 

Eagles. Their longevity, 514. 

Ears. See hearing and fenfes. Mufical ear a gift of Na- 
ture, 178. 

Earth, though fpacious, is comparatively fmall, 143. 

Education much influenced bythe principle of imitation, 473. 

Eggs. Analogies between them and the feeds of plants, 46. 
Egg of the fpider fly as large as the mother, 301. Eggs of 
fome infects grow after they are laid, 301, 302. Several 
worms difcovered in the fame eggy 303. Eggs of bees im- 
pregnated after they are depofited in the cells, 351 . 

Elephant. His ftructure, 77. His fagacity and manners, 79. 
A more particular account of this animal, 445. A mild 
and obedient domeftic, 447. Elephants were formerly 
employed in war, 449. Their fenfe of fmelling very acute, 
450. Revengeful when affronted, 452. They are fenfible 
of good fortune, and maintain a gravity of demeanour cor- 
refponding to the dignity of their lituation, 453. They al- 
low themfelves to be commanded by a child, ibid. More 
eafily tamed by mildnefs than by blows, 454. 

Ephemeron-fly lives only one day in its perfect ftate, butcon- 
tinues three years in the water before its transformation, 
99, 517. The nymphs refpire by gills, 132, 133. 

Evils neceffary in this world, 526. 

Expiration. See refpiration. 

Eyes. No animal, except the infect tribes, has more than 
two, 94. Defcription of the eye, 1 86. Inverted pictures 
on the retina, 189, 190. Why feen ftraight, 189. Why 
we fee Angle with two eyes, 191. Viiion conveys no 
idea of diftance, 192. Why near objects appear large, 
and diftant ones fmall, 192. Origin ofghofts, &c. 19,2. 



536 INDEX, 

F 

Fallow-deer. His artifices and and manners, 406. 

Farina. See plants and fexes. Farina of flowers the raw 
material of wax, 344. 

Feelers of infects. One ufe of them, 95. 

Females. See fexes, man and males. Among infects, great 
differences between males and females, 245, 246, 247. 
Female birds of prey larger, ftronger, and more beautiful 
than the males, 247. The reverfe takes place among gal- 
linaceous birds, 247. Changes in body and mind produ- 
ced by puberty, 271. Arrive fooner at that period than 
males, 271. 

Fire-fly. Emits a fhining light in the night, 100. 

Fifties. Sketch of their ftruclure, 87. Much diverfified in 
figure, 89. Are endowed with the fenfe of hearing, 89. 
their mode of refpiration, 125. Analogy between them 
and birds, 126. We are ignorant of the periods when 
they become fit for multiplying, 272. Cruftaceous kinds 
caft their fkins annually, 294. The life of every fifti one 
continued fcene of hoflility, 386. Shell-filh is very prolific, 
400. Their artifices, 414. Of their migration, 497. 
Their longevity, 511, 515. 

Flea. A description of it, 106. Undergoes a transforma- 
tion like that of winged infects, 107. 

Flies. See infects. An account of the phrygania or fpring- 
fly, 103. Of the dragon-fly, 103. Of the cinyps, the 
eggs of which give rife to the galls on oak leaves, 105. 
Gad-fly very troublefome to cattle, 105. Of the common 
fly, 105. Of the gnat, 105. Spider-fly as large as the 
mother when it efcapes from the egg, 227, 300. Some 
depofit their eggs in the leaves of plants, 301. Ichneu- 
mon flies deftructive to bees, 333 ; and other infe£ts, 387. 

Food of plants and of animals compared, 36. Man could 
not live upon herbage alone, 69. Food necefTary for the 
growth and expanfion of all organifed beings, 214. See 
growth. The general ingredients of food, 221. Rein- 
deer, the principal food of the Laplanders, 221. Animal 
food more ufed in proportion as people recede from the 
Equator, 223. The nature of man's food determined by 
the climate, 224. Man defigned by nature to feed partly 
on animal and partly on vegetable fubftances, 224. Liv- 
ing long on a particular fpecies of food is apt to create 



INDEX, 537 

difeafes, 225. Diverfity of food ufed by different fpecies 
one caufe of the diffufion of animals over the earth, 226. 
Every animal furnilhed with proper inftruments for procu- 
ring food, 228. Importance of feeding all young animals, 
well, 228. Infects which feed upon carrion never attack 
live animals, 228. This fact eftablifhed by experiments, 
228, 229. Spaianzani's experiments upon the digeftion 
of food by various animals, 230. 

Foramen ovale. In amphibious animals it remains open du- 
ring life, 76. 

Forrnica-leo. Its artifices and manners, 415. 

Forms are perpetually changing, 311. See transformations. 

Fox. His artifices and manners, 408. 

Frogs. Undergo great changes in their form, 294. 

Fulgora. See fire-fly. 

G 

Gad-fly, extremely troublefome to cattle, both in its cater-* 
pillar and fly ftate, 105. 

Gall infects. Defcription of their form and manners, 245. 

Galls. See chermes. The eggs of the cinyps give rife to 
thofe on oak leaves, 103. How galls are formed, 301. 

Gaftric juice. See digeftion and ftomach. Its folvent 
power affifted by chewing, 238. No dead animal fub~- 
ftance can refift its power, 238 ; but it has no effect upon 
living animals, 240. DilTolves the ftomach after death, 
240. 

Generation. See multiplication. 

Gentoos. Live almoft entirely on vegetables, 221. Their 
cafts founded in Nature, 522. 

Germs. Examination of Bonnet's theory of them, 219, 
See growth. 

Glow-worm. See worms. 

Glutton. His artifices and manners, 411. 

Gnat. Account of it, 105. 

Goat- fucker, a bird of pafTage, 480. 

Goofe. Its longevity. 

Gordius. See worms. 

Granivorous birds. Sketch of their ftructure, 82. Analo- 
gous to herbivorous quadrupeds, 84. Their gentle man-* 
ners, S4. 

Growth of animals and vegetables extremely analogous, 36, 



138 INDEX. 

&c. May be accelerated or retarded by certain circum- 
ftances, 39. Buffon's theory of growth, 214. Nutrition 
fuppofed to be effected by the brain and nerves, 215. 
This notion rendered improbable, 216. More probable 
than the nutritious particles of food are conveyed and ap- 
plied by the arteries, 217. Bonnet's theory of germs ex- 
amined, 219, 2^0. Our limited conceptions of the nature 
of growth and nourifhment, 220. All animals fuppofed 
to grow after birth, 227. The fpider-fly affords an excep- 
tion, 2-27. Remarkable rapidity of growth in fome 
worms, 229. Animals as well as plants which quickly ar- 
rive at maturity, foonperifh, 510. 

Gryllus. Some account of it, 100. 

Guiney-pig contracts a loofenefs, when forced to eat coleworts 
for fome time, 224. 

H 

Habitations of animals. When not reftrained, animals uni- 
formly build in the fame ftile, 315. Habitations and man- 
ners of the alpine marmot, 316. Of the beaver, 317, 
323. Of the mole, 323. Of birds, 324. Defcription of 
the eagle's neft, 324. Of the magpie's neft, 325. Of the 
titmoufe's neft, 325. Of penfile nefts, 326. Of the neft 
of the taylor-bird, 326. Nefts of fmall birds, 328. Of 
water-fowls, 328. Neft of the mafon-bee 331. Of the 
wood peircing bee, 334. Of another folitary bee, 338. 
Of the honey bee, 340, &c. Of the wafps, 354. Of the 
termites or wood-ants, 364. Of the common caterpillar, 
429. Of the proceffionary caterpillar, 431. 

Hares. Their artifices in efcaping the dogs, 407. 

Health promoted by moderate laughing, 118. 

Hearing. Fifties endowed with that fenfe, 89. The inftru- 
ments and caufes of hearing, 175. Why infants hear 
bluntly, 177. The pleafures derived from hearing, 179. 
The fource of artificial language, ibid. 

Heat. See animal heat. 

Hemipterous infects. Of their form and manners, 99. 

Herbivorous quadrupeds. See animals. Their form adapt- 
ed to their difpofitions, 68. 

Hermaphrodites. Some infects are hermaphrodites, 248. 
Many inftances of hermaphrodites among horfes, black 
cattle, and fheep, 248, 249, 250. 



INDEX. 539 

Herrings performs extenfive migrations, 499. 

Hippobofca. See horfe-fly. 

Hogs affbciate and defend each other, 437. 

Honey bee. See bee. 

Horfe-fly. Account of it, 106. 

Horfes. When attacked by any rapacious animal, rank up 
in lines to defend themfelves, 403. One acts as a centinel, 
ibid. Aflbciate with oxen, 437. The gentlenefs and do- 
cility of their difpofitions, 457. Notices of wild horfes, 
458. Naturally aflbciate with man, 459, 460. Their 
emulation and warlike temper, 459. Their feats in exhi- 
bitions, 460. 

Hoftilities of animals, 374, 375. Man the mod rapacious 
and the moft univerfal deftroyer, 380. Of rapacious quad- 
rupeds, 386. Of rapacious birds, 388. Every fifh rapa- 
cious, 386. Of rapacious infects, 389. Man not the only 
animal that makes war with his own fpecies, 390. Neu- 
ter bees mafTacre the males, 391. Bees frequently fight 
with each other, 392. In October, wafps mafTacre all 
their young, 392. This feeming cruelty is perhaps an act 
of mercy, ibid. Hoftilities of animals give rife to 
mutual improvement, 395. There is a wonderful balance 
in the fyftem of animal deftruction, 397. 

Hottentots. Their mode of training and inftructing oxen, 
460. 

Hunter, Mr. John. His account of the refpiration of birds. 
121. His defcription of the free-martin, 249. 

Hymenopterous infects. Their form and manners, 103. 

I 

Ichneumon flies. See flies and bees. 

Imitation. Its effects upon animals as a principle, 473* 

Infancy. See infants. 

Intellect. The degrees of it extremely varied both among 
men and other animals, S22. 

Infants. They underftand language before they can fpeak, 
165. Hear bluntly, 177. Are fond of noife, 177. In- 
vent, at the age of nine or twelve months, an artificial 
language, 179, 180. The condition of human infants con- 
fidered as miferable, 202. This notion invalidated, 203. 
Fond of motion, 204. The methods of managing them 
by favages, 205 *, and by northern nations, 206. Are lefs 



540 INDEX. 

affected by cold than at any other period, 207. Their 
lives very precarious, ibid. Caufes of their difeafes and 
mortality, 208. Sleep, for feveral weeks, almoft conti- 
nually, 203. Their memory weak, and why, 209. Du- 
ration of infancy in different animals, 210. Infant ftate 
of birds fhort, 211. Infancy of fifties, ibid. Of infects, 
ibid. The ftrong attachment of parents to their young, 
212. 

Infects. A fketch of their ftructure, 26, 27. A more en- 
larged view of it, 92. Divifion of infects from their wings, 
93. Ufe of their feelers, 94. Undergo three changes of 
form, 97. Some of them endowed with the fenfe of fmel- 
ling, 97 ; and ibme probably with that of hearing, 97. Ac- 
count of their probofcis, 98. Of the form and manners 
of the beetle tribe, 99. Of the form and manners of the 
hemipterous tribe, 99. Of neuropterous infects, 102. Of 
hymenopterous infects, 103. Of dipterous infects, 105. 
Of apterous infects, 106. Of the refpiration of infects, 127. 
Examples of their inftincts, 155. Infects have few in- 
ftincts, 162. Thofe that feed upon carrion, never attack 
live animals, 228. Great differences between fome male 
and female infects, 243, 244, 245. Defcription of the 
form and manners of gall-infects, 245. Infects fuppoied 
to impregnate certain plants, 254. Changes they under- 
go before their age of puberty, 271. Some of them have 
a ftrong affection to their young, 277. Of their transfor- 
mations, 295. Lives of winged infects confifts of three 
principal periods, 298. Their internal parts changed after 
transformation, 298. The behaviour of different caterpil- 
lars when about to transform, 303. Their transforma- 
tion is only the throwing off temporary coverings, 305. 
Nefts of various infects defcribed, 330. Some of them 
are rapacious, 387. Thoufands of them daily devoured 
by cattle, 394. Infects afford many inftances of affocia- 
tion, 425. Some of them migrate, 505. Are fhort lived, 
517. 

Infpiration. See refpiration. 

Inftinct. Reafons why it has been fo little underftood, 153. 
Divifion of inftincts, 153. Of pure inftincts, 154. Exam- 
ples of it in the human fpecies, ibid. ; in the brute crea- 
tion, 155. Of inftincts which can accommodate them- 
felves to peculiar circumftances, 158. Of inftincts which 



INDEX. 541 

are improveable by experience and obfervation, 160, 161. 
Superiority of man arifes from his great number of in- 
ftincts, 160. Examples of modified, compounded, or ex- 
tended inftincts, 161. Inftinct defined and explained, 162. 
Infects have few inftincts, ibid. Inftinct prefuppofes a de- 
gree of intellect, 425. The gradual progrefs of inftincts in, 
children, 439. When they begin to reafon with fome 
propriety, 440. The education of animals depends greatly 
on the principle of imitation, 473. 

irritability defcribed, 20. Many plants are endowed with 
this power, 20. 

L 

Lady-fly. See libella. 

Language. Mod animals can exprefs their wants and de- 
fires, 118, 164, 179. Artificial a refult of natural lan- 
guage, 179. The origin of the great diverfity of lan- 
guages, ISO. Articulate language peculiar to man, 420. 
Laplanders. Live chiefly on the rein-deer, 221. Fond of 
bear's flefti, ibid. 

Laughing defcribed, 118. Not peculiar to man, ibid. 

Leggs. No animal, except the infect tribes, have more 
than four, 93. 

Libella. A defcription of it, 102. Its nymph refpires 
water, 130. A rapacious animal, 388. 

Life. Our ignorance of its eiTential characteristics, 19. Its 
duration longer or fhorter according to the fpecies, 49. 
Life very precarious in infancy, 207. Lives of winged 
infects confift of three principal periods, 298. Life can- 
not be fupported without the intervention of death, 392. 
A profufion of animal life feems to be a general intention 
of Nature, 396. Of the duration of life in man and other 
animals, 506, &c. Its duration a relative idea, 520. 

Light. Some of its properties, 186. Its refrangibility, 187. 

Lobfters caft their fhells annually, 294. 

Longevity of animals, 506. Some remarkable inftances of 
it in the human fpecies, 508. ; of fifties, 511, 515. ; of 
quadrupeds, 513 ; of a toad, 516 ; of infects 517; of plants, 
518. 

Loufe. Its ftructure and manners, 106. 

Love. The fource of many important advantages ; 274. 
Is a great incentive to virtue, 274, ibid. Bad effects of too 
early marriages, 275 ; and of imprudent ones, 276. Love of 
U u u 



342 tNfiEX. 

offspring a fource of great pleafures, 277 ; remarkable in- 
itances of its ftrength, 278, 279, 280. Marriage or pair- 
ing frequently exhibited in the brute creation, 282. Moft 
animals have feafons, 283. 

Lumbricus. See worms. 

Lychnis dioica. Dr. Hope's experiments upon that plant ex- 
amined, 260, 261. Female lychnis ripened feeds with- 
out the poffibility of fexual commixture, 263, 264. 

M 

Magpies. Defcription of their nefts, 325. 

Males. See lexes, and man. Differences between males and 
females, 243, 244, 245. Changes produced by puberty, 
269. In pairing animals, the males and females produced 
are nearly equal, 283. 

Man. Of his ftructure and organs, 54. From his internal 
organs he could not live upon herbage alone, 69. His fu- 
periority over the other animals derived folely from his 
mental faculties, 70, 111, 164, 381. He alone is endow- 
ed with the faculty of articulate fpeech, 117, 420. The 
moft inconfiftent of all animals, 161. His inftincls im- 
proveable by obfervation and experience, 162. Defigned 
by Nature to live partly on animal and partly on vegetable 
fubftances, 223, 224. His texture more firm and compact 
than that of woman, 242. See women. Changes produced 
by puberty, 269. After puberty, marriage is his natural 
ftate, 271. A ftriking inftance of his parental affection, 
278. Undergoes many changes in form after birth, 291. 
His mind undergoes changes as well as his body 292. The 
moft rapacious of all animals, 379. Without fociety, his 
powers are limited, 381. Not the only animal that makes 
war with his own fpeeies 388. The moft docile of all ani- 
mals, 439. His body capable of great exertions, 44 J. 
The refemblance of men to particular animals an indica- 
tion of their difpofitions, 469. Of man's longevity and 
diffolution, 506. No being fuperior to him could exift in 
this world, 527. 

Manners and difpofitions of animals connected with their 
form and ftructure, 63, 66, 98, 108. 

Mantis. See camel-cricket. 

Marmot, Alpine. Defcription of its architecture and man* 
ners, 316, 317* 



INDEX. 543 

Marriage, after the age of puberty, is the natural ftate of 
man, 271. Difadvantages of too early marriages, 275. 
Bad effects of interefted and imprudent ones, 275. Argu- 
ments in favour of monogamy, 282, 283. 

Martin. Mr. Hunter's account of the free-martin, 248, 249. 

Martins are birds of paffage, 481, 

MaTon-bee. See bee. 

Matter. Its vis inertiae, 140. 

Mechanifm inadequate to account for animal action, 339, 

Medufa defcribed, 110. Its motions, 150. 

Memory of children is weak, and why, 209. 

Metamorphofes. See transformations. 

Migration of animals, 476. Lifts of birds of paflage, with 
the times of their arrival and departure, 487, &c. Partial 
migrations, 494. Principal objects of migration, 495, 505. 
Men have a principle of migration, 496. Quadrupeds like- 
wife perform partial migrations, 497. Migration of rats, 
ibid. ; of frogs, 497 j of fifties, ibid. ; of land-crabs, 502. 
of infects, 504. 

Millipes multiplies by fpontaneous feparation, 41. 

Mind. Its faculties the chief fource of animal power, 111. 
Minds of brutes poflefTed of original qualities, 1 63. The 
loweft fpecies of animals are endowed with minds, 164. 
The mind of man undergoes changes, 292. 

Minerals, no analogy between them and vegetables, 24. 

Modefty. The great defence and ornament of women, 243 
244. Is not confined to the human fpecies, 244. 

Moles. Defcription of their manners and operations, 323. 

Monkeys. "When fleeping, one acts as a centinel, 404. 

Motacilla. See titmoufe. 

Moths. An account of them, 102. Divided into two kinds, 
the fphinx and phalaena, ibid. All of them, when about 
to transform, fpin cods or clues of filk, 303. 
Motion. Spontaneous motion, 140. By what inftrument it 
is performed, 141. Vital and involuntary motions, 142. 
Motions of animals proportioned to their weight and ftruc- 
ture, 143. Motion gives animation and vivacity to the 
whole fcene of Nature, 144. Deftructive animals flower 
in their motions than the weaker kinds, 145. Progrefiive 
motion of the mufcle, ibid. Motions of the razor or fpout- 
fifh, 147 ; of the fcallop, 148 ; of the oyfter, 148; of the 
fea-urchin, 149 ; of the medufa, or fea-nettle, 150. Mo- 



544? INDEX, 

tion of the mafon-bee fometimes retrograde, 151. The 
rate at which fourd moves, 176. Children derive great 
happinefs from motion, 202. 

Mouflon, the original ftock of the flieep, 464. 

Multiplication. The hydra of Linnaeus multiplies by fend- 
ing off {hoots from its body, 41. The bell-polypus mul- 
tiplies by fplitting longitudinally, ibid ; and the funnel- 
fhaped polypus by fplitting tranfverfely, 41. The dart- 
millepes likewife multiplies by fpontaneous feparation, 
ibid. Infufion-animalcules multiply by continued divifions 
and fubdivifions, 42. Puceron multiplies without impreg- 
nation, 44. A profufion of animal life one great intention 
of Nature, 396. Noxious multiplication refrained by va-^ 
rious caufes, 397, 398. 

Mufca. See flies. 

Mufcles. Their progreflive motion defcribed, 145, 

Mufcles. The inftruments of animal motion, 141. 

Mulical ears. See ears. 

N 

Nature, in the formation of animals and vegetables, feems to 
have acted upon the fame general plan, 20. Her inten- 
tions in changing forms, 313. If properly understood, 
her intentions are never wrong, 394. Seems to pay little 
attention to individuals, but uniformly fupports the fpe- 
cies, 395. Advantages derived from her allowing ani- 
mals to prey on one another, 396, &c. It gives rife to 
mutual improvement, 395. A profufion of animal life 
feems to be a general intention of Nature, 396. There is 
a wonderful balance in the fyftem of animal destruction, 
397. Nature obferves a uniform gradation of beings, 522. 

Nerves. A fhort defcription of them, 6i. The fource of 
all fenfation and motion, 141, 168, 182. Their papillae 
the immediate inftruments of fenfation, 182. 

Nefts. See birds and habitations. Penfile nefts, 326. Cu- 
rious neft of the taylor-bird, ibid. Cuckow makes none, 
327. Nefts of different birds, 328. Nefts of various in- 
fects, 330. Wafp's neft defcribed, 354. Nefts or hills 
of the termites, 365 ; of caterpillars, 429. 

Nettle. Sea-nettle's motions extremely flow, 1 50. 

Neuropterous infects. Defcription of them, 102. 

Nidification. See birds. 

Nofe. Defcription of that organ, 169 , 



INDEX, 543 

Nutrition. See food, growth. 
Nymphs. A defcription of them, 298. 

O 

Oak. Account of a remarkable one, 518. 

Ocean. It prodnces the largeft animals now known, 89. 

Odours. The reafon why they excite the fenfe of fmelling, 

169. The particles of odorous bodies extremely minute, 

169. 
Oeftrus, See gad-fly. 
Orang-outang. His form as well as his manners make the 

neareft approach to thofe of man, 63. Walks erect, 70. 

An acount of the imitative powers of what is called the 

larger and fmaller fpecies, 441. Their manners, 442, 

443, 444. Belong not to the human kind, 444. Nearly 

allied to man, 441. 
Organs. See animals, birds, quadrupeds, fifties, plants, and 

ftructure. 
Oftrich vindicated from unnaturality, 159, 
Ox-eye. See titmoufe. 
Oxen, dull and phlegmatic animals, but capable of infrruc^ 

tion, 460, 461. Much changed by domeftication, 463. 
Oyfter. Its motions defcribed, 148. Is endowed with fome 

degree of intelligence, ibid. 

P 

Pairing. See marriage. Many animals pair, 282, 284. 
Palm-tree. Its mode of culture in Arabia no proof of th§ 

fexes of plants. See fexes. 
Palpi of infects defcribed, 95. 
Papillae. See nerves. 
Papilio. See butterfly. 
Parental affection. See love. 
Pediculus. See loufe. 

Pelican. Her mode or fupplyingher young with drink, 225. 
Phalaena. See moth. 
Phryganea. See flies. 
Pies. Their nefts very various. 
Pilchards. See herrings. 
Plants. Difficulty of diftinguifhing them from animals, 14. 

Definitions of them by Jungius, ibid. ; by Ludwig, ibid. ; 

by Linnaeus, 14. Examples of the motions of plants, } 6, 



546 INDEX, 

17. Their whole ftructure may be confidered as a ftoraach 
for receiving their food, 19. Other examples of vegeta- 
ble movements, 21, 22. Many of them have the power 
of irritability, 2 . Between vegetables and minerals there 
is hardly any analogy, 24, 25. Analogies between ani- 
mals and plants, originating from their fcructure and or- 
gans, 25, 35. Sketch of the ftructure of plants, 28, 30. 
Their oeconomy and functions are refults of a vafcular 
texture, 32. Analogies arifing from their growth and 
nourishment, 34, 40. Food of plants and of animals com- 
pared, 35. Analogies between the animal and vegetable 
derived from their diflemination and decay, 40, &c. Anal- 
ogies between the eggs of animals and the ieeds of plants, 
46. Some plants may be confidered as viviparous, 47. 
Plants have their feafons as well as animals, 49 Are all 
fubject to many difeafes, and at laft to individual diflblu- 
tion, 51. Of the fuppofed fexes of plants, 251. See fex- 
es. Pollen or farina of plants, fuppofed to be analogous 
to the male organs of generation, 252. New varieties of 
plants often proceed from accidental caufes, 257, 258. 
Plants, as well as animals, undergo transformations, 309, 
310. See transformations. Thofe which grow quickly 
foon perifh, 511. Their longevity, 518. 

Pollen. See plants, and fexes, 

polypus. Defcription of its ftructure and mode of multiply* 
ing, 28. When cut to pieces in any direction, each Cec- 
tion foon becomes a perfect animal, 29. One fpecies may 
be engrafted upon another, ibid. Some polypi multiply 
by fplitting longitudinally, and others tranlverfely, 41, 
Connects the animal to the vegetable kingdom, 526. 

Probofcis of infects defcribed, 97. 

Propolis, or bee- glue. See bees. 

Puberty. This period of life arrives later, or more early, ac- 
cording to the difference of fpecies, 38. Of the puberty 
of animals in general, 269. Changes produced by it, 269 

270, 291. Females arrive fooner at that period than males, 

271. All animals undergo changes at the age of puberty, 
271. 

Pucerons. Some fpecies are both viviparous and oviparous, 
44. Can produce without impregnation, 44, 98. Differ- 
ences between the males and females, 247. Devoured by 
numberlefs enemies, 389, 



INDEX. 541 

Pulex. See flea. 

Q 

Quadrupeds. Their ftructure, 63. The fimilarity of their 
ftructure and organs to thofe of man, 63. Of the carniv- 
orous kinds, 66. Of the herbivorous, 67. Few quadru- 
peds pair, 285. Undergo changes of form after birth, 293. 
Their mental powers likewife change, ibid. Some of them 
conftruct habitations, 315. Of carnivorous quadrupeds, 
382. Their difcriminating characters, 468, 469. Some of 
them migrate, 496. Of their longevity, 513. 

Quails. Of their migration, 477. 

R 

Rapacious. See carnivorous. 

Rats of Kamtfchatka. Their artifices and manners, 411. 

Ravens. Their mode of breaking (hell-fifties, 413. Their 
longevity, 513. 

Razor-fifll. See fpout-fifti. 

Rein-deer, the chief food of the Laplanders, 221. 

Refpiration. Air neceflary to the exiftence of all animal and 
vegetable bodies, 112. The mode in which refpiration is 
carried on by man and the larger land animals, 112. Dr. 
Crawford has rendered it probable that refpiration is the 
caufe of animal heat, 113. Connected with the circulation 
of the blood, 115. Commences inftantly after birth, and 
continues during life, 116. Of laughing, 118, Of weep- 
ing, ibid. Many fecondary advantages derived from ref- 
piration, 119. Birds refpire by the bones, and almoft eve- 
ry part of the body, as well as by the lungs, 12 L Refpi- 
ration of fifties, 125. Refpiration of infects, 126. 

Retina. External objects painted on it in an inverted pofi- 
tion, 187. Why objects are feen erect notwithstanding 
the inverfion of the pictures, 188, 189. Why vifion is 
fingle though a picture is painted on each eye, 190, 191. 

Roebuck. His artifices and manners, 406. 

S 
Saliva, a powerful folvent, 173. 
Salmons. Of their migrations, &c. 497. 
Scale. Of the progreffive fcale of beings, 521, &c. 
Scallop. Its motions defcribed, 148. 
Scarabaei, or the beetle tribe of infects, an account of them. 



£48 INDEX. 

Scorpion. Account of it, 108. 

Sea-nettle capable of being ingrafted, 50. 

Seal. Sketch of his manners, 76. 

Seafons. See love. 

Seeds. Analogies between them and the eggs of animals, 45. 

Seeing. See fenfes. 

Senfation implies the perception of pleafure and pain. May- 
be fufpended without death, 28. See fenfes. Theory of 
fenfation, 182. 

Senfes. Fillies endowed with the fenfe of hearing, 89. Of 
the fenfes in general, 168. Of the fenfe of fmelling, 169. 
Men, as well as brutes, afiifted in the felec~tion of food by 
the fenfe of fmelling, 1 70. Moft odours productive either 
of pleafure or pain, 171. The fenfe of fmelling in fome 
animals remarkably acute, 172. Of tafting, 172. The 
organs of tafte and fmelling am* ft each other, 173. Senfe 
of tafting comparatively grofs, 174. Senfe of hearing, 175. 
The pleafures derived from it, 178. Senfe of touch, 181. 
Senfe of feeing, 185.; conveys no idea of diftance, 192. 
Errors of vifion corrected by touch, 163. Of the fenfe of 
fmelling alone, 194. Of hearing alone, 196. ; of fmelling 
and hearing united, ibid. •, of tafte alone, and united with 
fmelling and hearing, 196 •, of fight alone, 197.; of fight 
united with fmell, hearing, and tafte, 197 ; of touching 
alone, 198 ; of touch united with fmelling, 200. ; of hear- 
ing, tafte, and touch united, ibid. Of fight united with 
all the other fenfes, 20i. 

Sepia. See cuttle-fifh. 

Serpents caft their ikins annually, 295. 

Sexes. Of the fexes of animals, 242. Their intercourfe not 
always neceffary for multiplication, 244. See multiplica- 
tion. Caterpillars are of no fex, 245. Among the larger 
animals, the difference of fize between males and females 
is not confiderable, 245 ; but, among infects, the differ- 
ence often great, 245, 246, 247. Of the fuppofed fexes 
of plants, 251. The arguments employed to fupport the 
fexes of plants are entirely analogical, 252. Thefe analo- 
gies fhown to be without foundation, ibid. Some of them 
ridiculous, 254. The moft plaufible argument in fupport of 
vegetable fexes derived from the culture of the date -bear- 
ing palm, ibid. This circumftance brings no aid to the 
fexuaiift, 254. Mylius's experiment on the Berlin palm 



INDEX. 549 

imperfect and inconclufive, 255, 256. Sexualifts have re- 
courfe to the winds and to infefts for the impregnation of 
certain plants, 256. This notion refuted, 257, 258. Ar- 
gument from new varieties examined, 258- Dr. Hope's 
experiments on the lychnis dioica examined, 260. Spa- 
lanzani's experiments on the fexes of plants, 264?, 265. 
Changes produced in animals by puberty, 269. The male 
bees impregnate the eggs after they are deposited in the 
cells, 349. 

Sheep aflbciate, and defend each other, 436. Their ori- 
gin, 464. 

Showers of blood accounted for, 306. 

Silk-worms. See worms and caterpillars. 

Skeletons, of all quadrupeds, when raifed on their hind-legs, 
have a great refemblance to thofe of man, 63. 

Sleep, of plants, 18. 

Smeathman. His account of the termites or wood-ants, 364. 

Smelling. See fenfes. 

Snails. Their mode of refpiring, 134, 135. 

Society. Not confined to the human fpecies, 418. Its ori- 
gin, ibid. The aflbciating principle is inftinctive*, 419. Its 
advantages, ibid. Gives rife to many virtues and fources 
of happinefs, 420. Its difadvantages, 421. Without a£- 
fociation, men could perform no extenfive operations, 422. 
Society of the beavers, 422. *, of pairing birds, 424 ; of 
the honey-bees, 425 j 6f the common caterpillars, 429 ; 
of the proceffionary caterpillars, 431. Some caterpillars 
are republicans, 432. Society of ants, 434 ; of gregari- 
ous animals who carry on no common operations, 436. 

Sound. Its medium and caufes, 176. The celerity of its 
motion, 177. Augmented by reflection, 177. Its modifi- 
cations, ibid. 

Spalanzani. Account of his experiments upon digeftion, 230. 
His experiments on the fexes of plants, 264. 

Sparrows of great ufe by devouring numbers of caterpillars, 
399. 

Speech. See language. 

Sphinx. See moth. 

Spiders. Their ftru&ure and manners, 1 07. When terrifi- 
ed fimulate death, 158. Their attachment to their young, 
278. Moft voracious animals, 387. Some furvive the 
winter, 415. 

Www 



550 I N D E X. 

Spider-fly. See files, and growth. 

Spout-fifh. Its motions defcribed, 147. Comes above the 
fand upon putting fait on the mouth of its habitation, 147. 

Stag. His artifices in efcaping the dogs, 404. Form herds, 436. 

Stevens (Dr.) His experiments on digeftion performed by 
means of a German who was in the habit of fwallowing 
ftories, 237. 

Stigmata of infects defcribed, and their ufes, 127. 

Stomach. Every part of vegetables may be confidered as a 
ftomach, 19. In carnivorous animals, the ftomach is pro- 
portionally fmall, 66. Its juice diflblves all kinds of vic- 
tuals, 230. Its great comminuting force in certain birds, 
231, &c. In man and quadrupeds, the ftomach feems not 
to act upon its contents, which are totally difTolved by the 
gaftric juice, 237. See gaftric juice. After death, the 
gaftric juice diflblves the ftomach, 240. 

Storks clear Egypt of ferpents, frogs, mice, &c. 398. 

Structure and organs. Their connection with manners and 
difpofitions, 62,66,96, 111. Structure of quadrupeds 
has a great refemblance to that of man, 63. Structure of 
birds, 80. Structure o^ fifties, 87. Structure of infects, 92. 

Swallow. A curious inftinct of it ? 157. Swallow's nefts, 328. 
Of their migration and torpidity, 476, &c. Different 
opinions on this fubject examined, 482. Could not pofli- 
bly exift under water, 484. 

Swans. Their longevity, 513. 

Sword-fifh often kills the whale, 401. 

T 

Tadpole. See frogs. 

Tailed men have no exiftence, 524. 

Tafte. See fenfes. The inftruments and caufes of the fen- 
fation of tafting, 172. Tafte various in individuals of the 
fame fpecies, 174. 

Taylor-bird. Defcription of its wonderful neft, 326. 

Termites. Mr. Smeathman's defcription of their fingular 
operations, 364. Defcription of thefe animals, 365. Un- 
dergo great changes in form, 365, 366, 367. "Wonderful 
prolific powers of the females, 367. Their nefts or hills 
defcribed, 368. Of their royal chamber, 370. Of their 
nurferies, 371. Of their magazines, 373. Of their fub- 
terraneous paflages, 374. Of their warlike difpofitions, 
375. Repair their habitations, 377, 



INDEX. 551 

.Tiger. His difpofitions are grofsly ferocious, 382. 

Tit-jnoufe. Defcription of its neft, 325. 

Toads. Inftances of their being found alive in the heart of 
trees, and inclofed in folid ftones, 136, 137. Their lon- 
gevity, 516. 

Tongue and palate, the principal inftruments of the fenfe of 
tafting, 173. 

Touch. See fenfes. 

Tracheae of infects defcribed, and their ufes, 127. 

Transformations. Every animal undergoes changes, 291, &c. 
Transformation of frogs, 294. Cruftaceous animals call: 
their fhells annually, 294. Serpents annually caft their fkins, 
295. Of the transformation of infects, ibid. Transformation 
of the filk-worm, 296 ; of other caterpillars, ibid. The 
internal parts, as well as the external form, of winged infects 
undergo confiderable changes, 299. Spider-fly transferror 
ed into a chryfalis before efcaping the belly of its mother, 
300. The behaviour of different caterpillars when about 
to transform, 303. Transformation of infects is only the 
throwing off of temporary coverings, 306. Plants, as well as. 
animals, undergo transformations, 309. Intentions of Nsw 
ture in changing forms, 313. 

Trochus deftroys numbers of fh ell -fifties, 400. 

Turkey. The great comminuting force of its flomach, 23 1 % 

U 
Urchin. Motions of the Tea-urchin defcribed, 149. 

V 

Vacuum. Sounds cannot be propagated through it, 175 % 
Vegetables. See plants. 
Vermes. See worms. 
Vis inertiae defined, 140. 
Vifion. ^See eyes and retina. 

W 

War. Man not the only animal that makes war with his, 
own fpecies, 391. 

Wafp. Solitary wafp digs holes in the fand, where fhe de^ 
poiits her eggs, 156. Feed their young by difgorging like- 
the pigeon, 279. Their manners and operations, 354, 
Their cells compofed of paper, 355.. Defcription of their 



5d2 INDEX. 

neft, ibid. Their manner of building, 357. Republics of 
wafps confift of males, females, and neuters, 358. De- 
fcription of the different kinds, 362. MafTacre their young, 
392. 

Wax. Bees wax a refult of a digeftive procefs, 344. 

Weeping, how performed, and its effects, 118. Not pecu- 
liar to man, ibid. 

Whales often killed by the fword-fifh, 401. 

Winds. Suppofed to impregnate certain plants, 256. This 
notion refuted, 257, 258. 

Wings. No animal, except infects, have more than two, 94. 
Thofe of infects made the foundation of a methodical dis- 
tribution, 98. 

Wolf. His difpofitionb are fierce and rapacious, 383, 384. 

Women. Their texture more lax than that of man, 242. 
Their minds are likewife more timid, 242. Social intercourfe 
with them foftens the difpofitions of men, 243. Modefty 
the great ornament of women, ibid. Carnivorous quadru- 
peds not {o apt to devour women as men, 244. See mul- 
tiplication, and fexes. 

Wood-ants. See ants and termites. 

Woodpecker. Some account of it, 413. 

Worms. Account of thefe infects, 108. Of the hair-worm, 
ibid. Of the earth-worm, 109. Rat-tailed worms, their 
mode of refpiring air, 128. In fome worms, the rapidity 
of their growth is remarkable, 229. Account of the male 
and female glow-worm, 246. Silk-worms fpin pods be- 
fore their transformation into flies, 296. See cater- 
pillars. Inftances of feveral worms proceeding from one 
egg, 303. The manner in which the lik-worms fpin their 
cod or clue, 303. 



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